


Falling For Your Charms

by Reiya



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Charms Professor Viktor, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Half-Veela Viktor, Love, M/M, Magic, Romance, Transfiguration Professor Yuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2018-12-05 19:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11584572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reiya/pseuds/Reiya
Summary: Professor Katsuki’s crush on Professor Nikiforov is supposed to be a great secret.So naturally, the whole school knowsSpanishRussianBrazilian Portuguese





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Falling For Your Charms - Reiya (Traducción)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12076326) by [TierKitchiero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TierKitchiero/pseuds/TierKitchiero)
  * Translation into Русский available: [Очарован твоими чарами](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12160212) by [axolotlcue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotlcue/pseuds/axolotlcue)
  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Falling For Your Charms](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12839988) by [lee_cameron26](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lee_cameron26/pseuds/lee_cameron26)



Yuuri Katsuki had a problem.

Actually, Yuuri Katsuki had several problems. He was in his second year teaching at one of the most prestigious magical schools in the world and yet still woke up some days with absolutely no idea what he was doing, terrified he would ruin it all. It was the night before the first day of the school year but his lesson plans were still a complete mess. He still couldn’t figure out how to make katsudon as perfect as his mother’s, even with the help of magic. He probably didn’t write home as much as he should. Objectively, there were lots of problems in his life.

However, all of those problems paled in comparison to the most pressing problem of all. That problem being…

Strong arms unexpectedly draped themselves across his shoulders from behind, jolting him out of his thoughts. Yuuri let out a startled yelp, jerking in surprise and nearly knocking over the glass of pumpkin juice in front of him as he did so. From behind he heard a low laugh as the figure who had caught him unawares sauntered into full view.

“ _Viktor_.”

Viktor just laughed again, smiling brightly down at where Yuuri was sitting at the teacher’s table and dropping gracefully into the empty chair next to him. Yuuri was pretty sure he could hear a collective sigh of longing go up from the people crowding the rest of the Great Hall as Viktor did so. It was a common occurrence, everyone was enamoured with Viktor and pretty much everything he did.  It also didn’t help matters for himself in the slightest.

You see, Yuuri Katsuki’s first problem was this. He was completely in love with Viktor Nikiforov. And his second problem? So was everyone else.

It was unsurprising really. Viktor inspired awe wherever he went, from his famous school years to his prestigious work in spell invention and his natural grace with teaching. Combined with his unfairly good looks, long silvery hair tied up in a complex twist, sharp cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, and added to his natural charm, it was a lethal combination. No-one could resist him, Yuuri least of all.

And if the world had taken pity on him, he wouldn’t have had to. They might work together but Viktor was in a league of his own and he had no need to grace Yuuri with his presence. Yuuri could have snuck by unnoticed and admired Viktor from afar and that would be that.

However, his life hadn’t quite worked out that way.

When Yuuri had arrived at Hogwarts the previous year, freshly qualified and terrified of his first year of teaching, he had barely spoken to anyone. Had locked himself in his classroom and pored over lesson plans, only showing his face at mealtimes. Had sighed over Viktor from a distance, along with a significant portion of both the student and teacher population, and gone on with his life as normal. They might both be teachers but their paths had rarely crossed and Yuuri had never approached him.

And then - with no warning -  in the second term everything had suddenly changed. Yuuri had arrived back from the Winter holidays to find Viktor was suddenly everywhere. Waiting for him outside his classroom, sitting next to him during mealtimes. Inviting him to mark papers together and barging into Yuuri’s lessons just for the opportunity to tease him. Yuuri had had no idea what had prompted the change but Viktor had been utterly sincere and charming, proclaiming it his duty to introduce Yuuri properly to life at the castle and guide him through his first year as a teacher.

The prospect had been far too tempting to refuse and Yuuri had tried to push down his inconveniently romantic feelings and simply enjoy the unexpected company. He might have had an embarrassingly large crush on his fellow teacher but they were colleagues first and he didn’t want to push Viktor away by making him uncomfortable.  Yuuri knew Viktor must deal with people being attracted to him all the time, it was better to hide his feelings and not allow something so stupid to come between what was rapidly becoming an unexpected friendship.  

And so he had pushed his feelings down and accepted Viktor endless invitations to spend time together and now they were here. The beginning of a new school year, waiting in the Great Hall for the welcome feast to begin, with Viktor smiling brightly at him after a summer spent apart.

“Hello Viktor,” Yuuri tried, aiming to keep his voice as level as possible. Surprising Yuuri had become one of Viktor’s favourite pastimes but Yuuri knew the other man had no idea that the rapidly growing blush on Yuuri’s face was from far more than just embarrassment. And Yuuri intended to keep it that way.

“Did you have a good summer?” he added and Viktor sighed dramatically, slumping to rest his chin on his hand and looking at Yuuri mournfully.

“No,” he proclaimed, a look of mock abject misery on his face. “It was too dull. And I missed my favourite professor while I was away.”

The last statement was accompanied by a wink and Yuuri could feel his cheeks heating up even more. It was always this way between Viktor and him, ever since Viktor had taken him under his wing as a new teacher the year before. Viktor loved to tease him and he took great pride in every time he was able to make Yuuri blush.

From Yuuri’s other side he heard a choking noise as Phichit inhaled half of his drink upon hearing the statement, coughing and spluttering to try and clear his lungs of the liquid.

Another of Yuuri’s increasingly long list of problems was this.

Phichit had been his best friend for years and he knew better than anyone about Yuuri’s inconveniently large crush on one Viktor Nikiforov. When Yuuri had been preparing for his first year of teaching, Phichit had made endless jokes about the different ways Yuuri could seduce Viktor now that they would be living in the same castle together, much to Yuuri’s embarrassment. And while he had told Phichit almost everything about his first year, including the fact that he and Viktor were now acquainted, he might have slightly neglected to mention just how friendly he and Viktor had become during that time.

But the secret had to come out eventually. Especially now that Phichit was here at Hogwarts this year too, not a fully qualified teacher yet but studying to become one. Training in the school for a year of practical experience. Yuuri had been absolutely thrilled at the news, there was nothing he wanted more than for his friend to work alongside him. But it did mean that Phichit now had a front row seat to the train wreck that was now his life and his increasingly desperate attempts to conceal his hidden feelings for one of his colleagues turned unexpected friend.

It seemed that Viktor had finally noticed Phichit sitting next to Yuuri too and he turned to him with a look of curiosity.

“You must be new?” he asked and Phichit nodded in reply.

“Viktor Nikiforov,” Viktor added, extending a hand for Phichit to shake. “I teach Charms.”

“Phichit Chulanont,” Phichit replied, taking the offered hand and smiling all the while. “Muggle Studies.”

Viktor turned back to Yuuri, opening his mouth to speak again but before he could say anything else a hush fell over the Great Hall as Headmaster Cialdini stood. The four long lines of students sitting at their house tables quietened and at the teacher’s table at the front of the hall, silence fell too. Yuuri thanked Merlin for conveniently timed distractions.

The welcome speech from the headmaster was just what Yuuri had expected. Welcoming the students back for another year of school, introducing the new teachers, Phichit among them, and calling for the Sorting to begin.

Yuuri clapped for all of the new students when their Houses were announced and when the Sortings were finally over, Viktor turned to him again with a teasing smile on his face.

“Your table is looking a little empty this year,” he said jokingly, nodding to the Slytherin table which was indeed slightly less full than Viktor’s own Hufflepuff table after the Sorting was finished.

Friendly as they might have become over the last year, house pride was still a serious matter, even between the teachers. The unexpected friendship between he and Viktor often morphed into a friendly rivalry when their school houses were involved and Yuuri wasn’t about to take the teasing lying down.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t kick your asses in the Quidditch and House Cups this year,” he shot back and Viktor laughed in amusement at the light challenge in his voice.

“Wasn’t it Gryffindor who won last year,” Phichit pointed out mock innocently and they simultaneously turned to glare at him. It was still a sore spot for them both. As the Heads of their respective houses, their students winning the Quidditch or House Cups was a point of pride and their mutual loss the year before to Gryffindor had stung. Phichit, as an ex-Gryffindor, just looked smug.

With all the first years finally sorted into their new Houses, the feast began. Golden plates bursting with food appeared in front of them all and they all tucked in enthusiastically as the hall filled with chatter and noise.

As they ate they fell into easy conversation, Phichit and Viktor inquiring into each others lives politely as they grew acquainted and Yuuri sitting between them, joining in between mouthfuls. While they were talking Viktor filled him in on everything that had happened over the summer, describing it all in enthusiastic detail with wild hand gestures and Yuuri listened and replied with his own, far less interesting, stories. Phichit watched the two of them with a smirk that was far too smug for Yuuri’s liking written across his face.

When the Headmaster finally called the feast to a close Viktor stood, stretching a little before turning back to smile at Yuuri.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said with a final wink before turning to follow the crowds out of the room. Yuuri’s heart gave a little jolt at the words and he willed it down, turning back to Phichit to see him looking at Yuuri expectantly.

“What?” Yuuri asked, although he knew exactly what Phichit was thinking. Phichit just raised an eyebrow.

“Come on Yuuri,” he said, sounding a little exasperated. “You know exactly what. You two seem awfully friendly for two ‘colleagues’. Is there anything you haven’t been telling me?”

“Of course not!” Yuuri exclaimed, almost wanting to laugh at the implication in Phichit’s tone. Viktor might act very friendly around him but he was like that with everyone. And he might have appointed himself Yuuri’s unofficial guide around the world of teaching last year when Yuuri was still new and unsure of himself but they were just friendly and nothing more. Viktor had hundreds of people mooning over him, he didn’t need to have to deal with another. 

“Really?” Phichit said, now sounding disbelieving. “We are talking about the same Viktor Nikiforov aren’t we? The one that you used to have a massive crush on when you were in school together?”

 _“Phichit_ ,” Yuuri hissed, looking around nervously and motioning for Phichit to lower his voice. Thankfully the other teachers seemed to be preoccupied with the students or each other but Professor Giacometti was standing dangerously close and the last thing Yuuri wanted with him to overhear their conversation.

“What, it’s true isn’t it?” Phichit said, although his voice was quieter now.

“Yes ok, I used to have a crush on him,” Yuuri conceded. Phichit raised an eyebrow and he relented. “Fine, maybe I still like him a little bit. But so does everyone. They did back then too. I’m hardly that special.”

Phichit had arrived at the school the year after Viktor left but even he had heard the stories. Viktor Nikiforov had been a god among students during his time at Hogwarts and had managed to charm almost every person in the castle by the time he finally graduated.

Some put it down to his Veela blood but Yuuri knew that even without the natural draw his ancestry gave him, the results still would have been the same. The dashingly handsome quidditch captain, popular and beloved by students and teachers alike. Winning the Quidditch cup for Hufflepuff for five years running. He probably would have done it a sixth year too had the Triwizard tournament not fallen in his final year. Viktor was selected as the Hogwarts Champion and he had won that too. Obviously. Pretty much every single person in the school had been in love with him.

In comparison, Yuuri had been a shy child, struggling to find his place in such a strange new world. Coming from a muggle family, everything had been different and alien and he had often struggled. His friend Yuuko had dragged him out of his dormitory during his first term to watch his very first quidditch game, trying to introduce him to more of the magical world, and he had been in awe of Viktor ever since. Viktor had just looked so graceful in the air above him, spiralling and turning on his broom with ease as he hunted for the snitch and Yuuri hadn’t been able to look away. When Viktor had finally landed triumphantly with the snitch clutched tightly in his fist, Yuuri had cheered loudest of all.

After that he had been hooked, attending everyone one of Viktor’s games and earning himself strange looks when he applauded for the wrong house team. As he had moved up the years his idolisation of Viktor had grown, as had his desire to be noticed by him.

Yuuri had trained hard, had wanted to be enough to face Viktor on the Quidditch pitch some day, but year after year his nerves had gotten the better of him during the Slytherin team try-outs and that dream had never come to pass. When he finally made the team, Viktor had already graduated and left the school for good, never knowing who Yuuri was. Yuuri’s own student quidditch career hadn’t exactly been unremarkable but he had still never reached the legendary status of Viktor.

After Viktor had left, he had pushed his childhood admiration away and for years he had thought it successfully forgotten, if not gone. But then he had accepted a teaching position at Hogwarts and it had all come flooding back, this time much worse than before. Now Viktor was more mature, more acomplished and much more charming and Yuuri had been gone from the moment he had seen him again.

And then for some reason, Viktor had taken it upon himself to plant himself firmly into Yuuri’s life and what had once been an innocent crush from a distance had grown into something much harder to contain. Viktor was kind, funny, quick to laugh and easy to talk to and Yuuri had fallen hard all over again. But Viktor could never know that. It might ruin the friendship that had grown between them and Yuuri wouldn’t risk that for the world. He was lucky enough as it was.

 “Yes, yes,” Phichit said dismissively, waving his words away. “Everyone loves Nikiforov, I know that. But you _really_ like him. And from what I saw just there, he seems to like you too. Way more than you’ve been telling me in your letters.”

“I know,” Yuuri replied. He was still trying to get his head around the fact that someone like Viktor had chosen to spend his time with someone like him himself. Mentioning it to Phichit would have seemed too much like tempting fate when he still wasn’t quite sure of the reason. “We’re…friends? I guess? I think we’re friends.”

“Sure,” Phichit said, voice disbelieving. “Friends.”

He gave Yuuri a pointed look and Yuuri stared back, refusing to be the first to break. Finally Phichit spoke again.

“How did that happen anyway?” he continued. “You’ve been teaching here a whole year before I arrived and you never once wrote and told me that you and Professor Nikiforov had become _friends._ ”

“It sort of just…did?” Yuuri answered, not quite sure of that one himself. If it had been up to him alone he’d have stayed far out of Viktor’s way where feelings and work couldn’t mix and Viktor probably still wouldn’t even know his name. It was Viktor’s strange insistence to start spending time with him that had inserted him so fully into Yuuri’s life.

Phichit’s eyebrows had steadily climbed to reach his hairline as Yuuri spoke and he snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.

“ _Friends_.” he said again, amusement lacing his tone. Yuuri understood what he meant. Viktor was a very affectionate person and it was easy to mistake his tactile nature for something more. But that was just who Viktor was.

“Well he better not have taken the spot of your best friend Yuuri. You know that’s reserved for me.” Phichit added with a laugh.

“Of course,” Yuuri agreed smiling again. When Yuuko and Takeshi had graduated in his fifth year he had found himself lonely. But then Phichit had barged into his life and refused to leave and they had been joined at the hip ever since. And he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Whatever had happened with Viktor while he and Phichit had been apart, no-one was knocking Phichit down from that spot.

“We should probably get to bed,” Yuuri pointed out, glancing around at the rapidly emptying hall surrounding them. Term started the next day and they both had classes to teach.

“Nope,” Phichit replied, grabbing his arm and hauling him up out of his chair. “I’m coming to your office for some quality best friend time and you’re going to tell me all about how you and Viktor Nikiforov became _friends._ ”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The next day, Yuuri was nervous. Classes on the first day of term were always nerve-wracking. Teaching the next generation of magical students was a huge responsibility and one that Yuuri often felt keenly.

Thankfully his first class was made up entirely of nervous first years, some of whom had never used a wand before in their lives. Yuuri enjoyed teaching the first years, they often hung onto his every word and there was always a gasp of delight when he transformed into a poodle at the end of their lesson to give a demonstration of advanced Transfiguration magic.

The lessons he taught first years was relatively easy too. Transfiguration might be considered a difficult subject but turning matches into needles was hardly challenging magic, designed to help them get a grasp of the basics and nothing more. The first hour was spent encouraging the nervous eleven year olds and righting any unfortunate accidents to happen. By the end, several of the matchsticks were looking considerably more metallic and pointy than they had at the beginning and Yuuri considered it to be a success.

The second hour however was more challenging. This time his class was entirely made up of seventh years, all preparing to sit their NEWTs and in need of much more advanced teaching.

“Does anyone have any questions before we begin,” he asked the class at large, looking around at the sea of now familiar faces. After teaching them during the last year he knew all of them well and they were comfortable enough around him to drop their initial wariness of a new teacher.

The Hufflepuff seeker and Headboy Otabek was the first to speak.

“What level of magic will we be expected to know for the exams?” he asked, face serious. Otabek was a good student, quiet and reserved most of the time but Yuuri had seen him out on the Quidditch pitch. He was the reason the Hufflepuff team had scraped into second place, only a handful of points behind Gryffindor.

That question kept them occupied for several minutes, Yuuri explaining the sections of the textbook they were still to cover and giving a basic outline of the lessons for the year. When the class was finally looking satisfied, if a little nervous, another student put up her hand.

“Who was the new teacher you were sitting next to last night?” she asked, tone curious. “I thought we already had a Muggle Studies professor.”

“That was Professor Chulanont,” Yuuri explained, hearing a ripple of interest go around the classroom. Phichit might have left the school almost two years ago but his name was still relatively famous in some circles. His 7th year Muggle Studies project was the reason the school now had wifi after all. “He’s spending a year here in training for his teaching degree.”

Yuuri knew that Phichit’s real passion lay in inventing, blending the muggle and the magical together to create new and innovative ideas. But teaching was a job security and a good start on that path and Celestino had already promised him a position as soon as he completed his training. Phichit could invent in his free time and Yuuri would get to keep his best friend close. He only regretted that Phichit still had a few more years to go before he would be fully qualified and able to return for a permeant position.

After that there were a few more questions, mainly about the exams and the lesson to come. Finally it seemed that there was no-one left to talk but before he could move on a final student raised his hand, a slight smirk dancing across his face as he did so.

“Do you have a question?” Yuuri asked and the student nodded, expression never leaving his face.

“Is Professor Nikiforov single?” he asked and Yuuri felt his mouth drop open as muffled giggling began to fill the room.

“That question is…entirely inappropriate,” he spluttered, knowing that his face was going red in embarrassment and willing the colour down. “Professor Nikiforov’s private life is none of your business.”

“Are you single?” another student chipped in and Yuuri regretted ever letting the students ask questions at all.

“As I said before, that question is inappropriate,” he said firmly, forcing his embarrassment down and sounding as stern as he could with his face still bright red. “And I suggest you don’t ask something like that again unless you want me to start docking house points.”

Being confined in a castle full of gossiping teenagers could be a curse at times and it wasn’t the first time a student had asked about a teacher’s private life. Any shred of gossip was pounced on hungrily and there were always a few troublemakers looking to find out juicy new bits of information to share. Although Yuuri was pretty sure far more people would be interested in the fact that Viktor was single than the fact that he was.

Deciding to move on as quickly as he could he finally began the lesson, ending the session by assigning the first essay of term. The class groaned as he did so but he refused to feel any sympathy. Transfiguration NEWTs were notoriously difficult to pass and he was determined to make sure the entire class were completely prepared. And hopefully the unexpected homework would stop them asking anymore uncomfortable questions in the future.

With the end of the lesson came the first break and Yuuri used the time to finally escape the classroom. Aside from the small hiccup at the start of the second class, his lessons had been going surprisingly well so far. This year he was much more confident in his teaching than he had been the year before, back when he had been new and constantly terrified of messing up.

The teacher’s lounge was on the same floor as his own and he decided to take a quick break there, walking along the familiar corridors and watching as the students hurried all around him. When he was almost at his destination he caught sight of a familiar blond head walking towards him, the green and silver colours of his tie marking him as one of Yuuri’s own.

“Yuri,” he called and Yuri looked up, face morphing into one of annoyance when he saw who had called his name. Yuuri had long since given up expecting respect from the grouchy fifth year but he knew that the insults Yuri often tossed at him had no bite behind them anymore.

“What?” Yuri snapped, striding over to him and glaring up at Yuuri with an expectant expression on his face.

“Are you trying out for the quidditch team this year?” Yuuri asked, hoping that the answer was yes. Yuri was a brilliant seeker who had won them many games in the past. If Slytherin House wanted a chance at the Quidditch Cup this year, they needed him on the team.

“Of course I am.” Yuri just rolled his eyes, looking irritated. “If JJ wins one more time I’m going to hex him myself.”

“I would advise that you don’t,” Yuuri pointed out, although he could understand Yuri’s frustration. He wanted to win just as badly as the rest of his house, becoming a teacher hadn’t changed that at least. “Unless you want to break another detention record.”

Yuri just gave him a withering look before stalking off, Yuuri turning to watch his wayward student as he left.

“He likes you, you know,” Viktor’s voice came from behind him and Yuuri jumped, making an embarrassing sqeaking noise of surprise and spinning around. Viktor grinned back in amusement at Yuuri’s reaction, looking pleased with himself.

For a second, Yuuri did nothing but stare dumbly, admiring the way Viktor’s smile lit up his face. Then Viktor’s words finally registered and he snorted, waving them away. Yuri Plisetsky didn’t like anyone, except maybe his friend Otabek who was the only person in the castle whose presence he tolerated. Even as his Head of House, Yuuri had long ago given up expecting anything else.

“I doubt it,” he joked but Viktor just raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

“He does,” he insisted. “I’ve been teaching him for five years now, I can tell when he hates someone much less than usual. He respects you at least. I think he admires you, in his own way.”

Yuuri had to laugh at that, admiration definitely wasn’t something his student felt for him. Mostly annoyance and maybe a little gratitude when Yuuri let him off from the extra homework before Quidditch matches, as he did with all the students who played for the house teams.

“How did your first morning go,” he asked instead, deciding it wasn’t worth arguing about and Viktor laughed in return.

“I only had to put out three fires this morning,” he grinned. “So I’m counting it as a success.”

“Really?” Yuuri replied jokingly. “I thought you loved the fires. You’d think it was a failure if you didn’t have to put any out on the first day.”

“Well, the fires do make lessons a bit more interesting,” Viktor conceded with a laugh. In the castle, his charms classes were considered something approaching legendary and no student ever knew what to expect when they walked through the door. Some ended spectacularly and some ended in disaster but either way they were apparently always enormous fun. A few of the other teachers had called Viktor’s unique methods into question but as the teacher with the highest scoring students by a mile, no-one could claim they weren’t effective.

“And let me guess, you assigned homework on the first day?” Viktor added and Yuuri nodded as Viktor raised an eyebrow in teasing judgement.

“Let me guess, you didn’t?” Yuuri shot back which and Viktor pouted in mock hurt.

“Of course not!” he exclaimed, causing some of the students still filing through the corridor to turn and look at them curiously. “You know how much I hate giving homework so early in the term.”

“I know how much you hate marking it,” Yuuri replied. Viktor’s hatred of grading homework and doing paperwork was notorious amongst the Hogwarts staff. If he hadn’t been such a skilled teacher Yuuri was sure Celestino would have intervened but as it was, the issue had never come up.

Viktor’s real talent was in the practical, teaching students and inventing spells to sell on to the Ministry. His name was famous all throughout the wizarding world for his revolutionary new charms and it was a wonder Hogwarts had managed to keep him for so long. The Ministry were practically begging for him to come and work for them but Viktor had turned the offer down time and time again. He had explained to Yuuri that he liked the freedom working at Hogwarts gave him, able to create new spells in his spare time without the Ministry constantly watching over his shoulder. Celestino turned a blind eye to some of the more disastrous results and ignored the majority of the missing paperwork and Viktor kept teaching for him in return. It was a good situation for them both and Yuuri couldn’t help but be selfishly grateful for it causing Viktor to remain at Hogwarts with him.

Before either of them could speak again however the bell rang, signalling the end of the break. It had flown by much quicker than Yuuri had expected and he shot Viktor an apologetic look as he turned away, needing to return to his own lessons again.

“See you at lunch?” Viktor asked and Yuuri nodded before walking off down the corridor. When he wasn’t thinking about it, his feelings about Viktor were sometimes easy to hide. But then Viktor would smile or laugh or look at him in a certain way and it would all come flooding back. It was incredibly unhelpful.

 But he pushed those thoughts away as he made his way back to his own classroom. There was more teaching to be done after all.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The end of the day found Phichit in Yuuri’s office, feet up on his desk as they finally relaxing after a long day. Phichit filled Yuuri in on everything that had happened, bemoaning the state of the Muggle Studies department and already planning improvements while Yuuri listened and occasionally chipped in with stories of his own. When he told Phichit about Yuri Plisetsky, Phichit just laughed.

“I bet you he does admire you,” Phichit pointed out, sounding gleeful. “You have the record for the fastest snitch catch in school history. More people look up to you than you think.”

“Please Phichit, be serious,” Yuuri snorted, eyeing Phichit with disbelief. “If anyone is going to be admired for being a school quidditch legend here it’s going to be Viktor.”

Phichit just rolled his eyes.

“Viktor again?” he asked and Yuuri tensed, hoping this wasn’t going where he thought it was going. “You sure do talk about him a lot for someone who’s supposedly ‘just friends’. Honestly Yuuri, just date him and be done with it. I know you want to.”

“We couldn’t date,” Yuuri pointed out, hoping to move the topic of conversation on as fast as he could. He and Viktor was never going to happen, he already knew that. “We work together, it would be inappropriate.” 

“Says who?” Phichit asked, dropping his feet from the desk and sitting up straighter, grinning at Yuuri’s obvious embarrassment. “Colleagues date all the time. I’m sure Celestino would be fine with it.”

“Well, even if we could, Viktor doesn’t see me in that way,” Yuuri added, determined not to let this conversation go any further. “He’s got plenty of people trailing after him all the time completely head over heels for him. He doesn’t need me to be another one. He doesn’t ever have to know.”

“I don’t know Yuuri,” Phichit said, sounding doubtful. “He was acting very friendly towards you last night. I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“Yes, because we’re _friends_ ,” Yuuri emphasised. “He doesn’t see me any other way.”

 “Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure,” Phichit told him, schooling his face into a look of mock seriousness. “Transform your desk into a bed and be lying on it when he next comes into the room to see how he reacts. Unless you prefer desks of course because then…”

“Phichit stop it,” Yuuri groaned, clapping his hands over his ears to block out the rest of what his friend was trying to say. “It’s not going to happen, ok?”

“Fine, I’ll leave it,” Phichit conceded, obviously deciding to drop the subject although Yuuri was sure he had far from heard the end of it. “For now at least. Now sit down and bring out that firewhiskey I know you’re hiding away in here somewhere. It’s been a long day and we have some serious catching up to do.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The rest of that week passed relatively normally and Yuuri decided that the year was off to a good start. Phichit was settling in to his new job fine, Viktor’s classroom had only had to be evacuated once and most of Yuuri’s students were handling the new magic well. His crush was under control and no-one seemed any the wiser to it. In general, life was good.

Unluckily for him, fate had a way of ensuring that nothing went smoothly for long.

During his final lesson of the week, Viktor showed up to his classroom. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence. For some reason during the last year, Viktor had developed a tendency to drop by, appearing unexpectedly and disrupting the lesson, teasing Yuuri shamelessly and leaving him blushing and spluttering in his wake. For the whole week, Yuuri’s classroom had been conspicuously Viktor free but finally he appeared again.

Yuuri was in the middle of a particularly difficult lesson when he arrived. Human transfiguration was always complicated and often resulted in embarrassing accidents for the students and he wanted to make absolutely sure they all understood the theory before anyone moved onto the practical. He was in the middle of explaining the complicated technique behind hair colour transformation when Viktor slipped into the room. From the way he moved, the action looked like it was supposed to be surreptitious but the entire class still turned towards him anyway the second he entered the room. Viktor was anything but inconspicuous.

Viktor shot the class a charming smile and waved the gazes away, eyes fixed on Yuuri.

“I need to borrow your professor for a moment but it can wait,” he said lightly and Yuuri suppressed a groan. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Viktor but he was in the middle of teaching and he was always distracted whenever Viktor was near. Trying to conceal his inconvenient romantic feelings from the other man and the class at large was always harder when Viktor was beaming at him and making witty comments all throughout the lesson.

“Just sit down there and I’ll be with you in a minute,” he nodded towards one of the empty desks at the back of the classroom and Viktor hopped onto it, swinging his legs cheerfully and grinning at Yuuri’s exasperated expression.

“Now, does anyone have any questions before we begin,” he asked the class at large and one student raised his hand, looking nervous.

“Sir, can we have a demonstration,” he asked, voice sounding a little apprehensive. It was a fair question, human transfiguration was daunting after all and Yuuri was about to agree when he saw the mischievous gleam in Viktor’s eyes at the back off the classroom.

“You’ll need a volunteer,” he said casually, sliding off the empty desk he had been sitting on and making his way up to the front of the class. His eyes were fixed on Yuuri and there was a sly smile to his face as he did so. It didn’t help Yuuri’s emotional state in the slightest. “Since I interrupted, let me pay you back.”

“There’s really no need,” Yuuri insisted. But Viktor was already standing in front of him, looking expectant. The class were all watching intently too and he couldn’t think of a good enough excuse to refuse. Instead he cleared his throat and raised his wand, trying to concentrate on what to do.

The lesson had been on hair colour transfiguration but Yuuri could hardly bring himself to use the spell on Viktor. His long silvery hair was a prominent reminder of his Veela side and it cascaded in shimmering waves down his back, catching the light as it moved. Viktor was stunning all over but his hair was especially lovely and Yuuri had fantasied about running his fingers through it more than once. It seemed almost sacrilege to change it in any way.

“Come on Yuuri,” Viktor said at his hesitation as Yuuri tried to shake away the incredibly unhelpful thoughts, a teasing challenge in his voice as the class watched on in anticipation. “Human transfiguration is your speciality isn’t it? Make me beautiful.”

“But you’re already beautiful,” Yuuri blurted out before he could stop himself.

He had been so very wrong. This year was off to a terrible start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/). I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!


	2. September - November

“It can’t have been that bad,” Phichit comforted as Yuuri buried his head in his hands and let out another pained groan.

“You have no idea,” Yuuri mumbled as Phichit patted his back soothingly. He appreciated the show of support but he could also feel the fine tremors running through Phichit’s palm as he tried to hold back laughter, which made him rather sceptical to just how sympathetic his friend was feeling.

“What did you even do after you said that?” Phichit asked and Yuuri pressed his head further into his hands, wishing he could banish the memory forever. Maybe he could just ask Phichit to obliviate him and forget any of the mortifying incident ever happened.

“I tried to just ignore it,” he sighed as Phichit hummed sympathetically above him. “I thought maybe if I just moved on and did the demonstration everyone would forget about it but I sort of panicked.”

Viktor had been standing there beaming delightedly at him, a sparkle of amusement in his eyes as he tossed out a quick _‘well that makes two of us’_ and all of Yuuri’s calm and composure had gone out of the window. Thankfully, Viktor’s reply seemed to indicate that he had taken it as a joke but his teasing response had left Yuuri flustered and tongue tied. After that he’d simply acted without thinking, hoping to move on as quickly as possible and now he was here, hiding in Phichit’s office and vowing never to leave again.

“I might have turned his eyebrows blue,” Yuuri muttered, feeling the red flush spread over his face at the mere memory. Phichit stared at him for a second and then he broke out into peals of laughter, gasping for breath as Yuuri looked on indignantly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Phichit apologised between gasps as he looked at the embarrassment on Yuuri’s face. “But come on Yuuri. You turned his eyebrows _blue._ Of all the things in the world you possibly could have done to get yourself out of that situation and that’s what you chose.”

“I wasn’t thinking straight ok,” Yuuri shot back, trying to will down the redness in his cheeks and failing. “I was panicking after what I said and I didn’t want to transfigure his hair because…well…you know…”

He made a vague, frustrated gesture and Phichit nodded solemnly although Yuuri could see he was still trying to hold back hysterical laughter.

“Yes Yuuri, I know you’ve wanted to braid his hair since you were eleven,” he teased and Yuuri shot him a look of deep betrayal.

It was true that one of the things he had first noticed about Viktor had been his hair. The unique silver shine, the way it caught the light and seemed to glow. It was Viktor’s most predominant Veela trait and he wore it proudly, keeping it long and binding it into a variety of different elegant styles that Yuuri had marvelled over in his youth. So yes, Yuuri liked Viktor’s hair and no he hadn’t wanted to change it for a class demonstration but Phichit didn’t have to point it out like that.

“I just didn’t want to mess it up,” he replied defensively as Phichit grinned back, clearly revelling in his pain. “But I was teaching a class on hair colour transfiguration so I just picked the next best option.”

“The next best option being turning his eyebrows blue?” Phichit said with a look of disbelief and Yuuri groaned again, burying his head back in his hands. He hadn’t been thinking, still panicked over the words he had blurted out seconds before and he had done the first thing he had thought of.

“Well, it can’t be as bad as you think,” Phichit tried, returning to rubbing soothing circles into his back as Yuuri willed himself to disappear. “What did he say?”

“He just laughed,” Yuuri sighed. “And said that while it was an interesting choice, he didn’t think it suited him. Then I changed them back and ran away as soon as the lesson was over.”

“Well at least he found it funny,” Phichit offered, summoning a chair next to Yuuri and sitting down to talk again at eye level. “It probably wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as you think it was.”

Yuuri had to disagree but he decided to let the matter go. All he wanted to do was forget and move on with his life.

“Just laugh it off the next time you see him,” Phichit advised. You’re supposed to be friends remember? We’ve done way worse to each other accidentally before and you haven’t gotten rid of me yet. Remember the nose incident?”

Yuuri preferred not to, practicing for exams on each other when they were both unspeakably nervous had resulted in many incidents he’d rather not remember, but Phichit’s point still stood. Viktor had just laughed it off and it was unlikely to affect their relationship at all, except for Viktor maybe joking about it in the future.

“Friends don’t drop friends for weird transfigurations,” Phichit joked. “Although,” he added, looking curious again. “You still never really explained how you became friends with him in the first place”

Yuuri just shrugged helplessly because he was still pretty confused by that himself. He had tried to explain it to Phichit on the first night of term but there wasn’t really much to say or much information that he could offer.

“We just sort of did,” he replied. “We spent a lot of time around each other and it just kind of… happened.”

“Yes, but he was the one to start it wasn’t he,” Phichit pressed and Yuuri nodded, thinking back. The change had been jarring, one minute he had been happily admiring Viktor from afar and the next Viktor had dropped himself straight into the centre of Yuuri’s life and never left. Constantly spending time with Yuuri until they had become fast friends.

“During the second term yes.” he replied, running over the events in his head again. “At the beginning I don’t think he even really knew who I was, not until the Yule Ball at least. Then after the winter holidays he suddenly just sort of…showed up and didn’t leave.”

 His first proper contact with Viktor was another one of those incidents that Yuuri tried futilely to banish from his mind. After nearly a whole term of successfully not making a fool of himself and staying out of Viktor’s way, that had all gone down the drain the night of the Yule Ball.

The pressure and stress of his first year of teaching overlapping with a Triwizard Tournament year had been bad enough but his dog Vicchan had died just that morning. Yuuri was still expected to show up at the ball to represent the school but he had spent most of the first half lurking around the edges, distracted and trying not to cry or make a fool of himself. Then he had turned and walked smack bang into Viktor himself, spilling his drink and ruining the front of Viktor’s dress robes in the process, in front of not just the majority of his own school but two others as well.

Yuuri had apologised profusely even as Viktor waved away his panic with a laugh and a line about never liking the robes much anyway, banishing the stain instantly. As soon as he could, Yuuri had escaped, then retreated into one corner in shame and drank a considerable amount of firewhiskey to drown his mortification. When he had woken up the next day, with a hangover and a letter from his parents asking him home for the holidays, he had packed up and left straight away, never wanting to look Viktor in the eye again. As first impressions went, being clumsy and then hiding had to be one of the worst.

The incident clearly hadn’t damaged his relationship with Viktor too much however, considering that when Yuuri returned from the holidays Viktor had suddenly seemed far more friendly than usual. Something that had rapidly developed into Viktor taking Yuuri under his wing as a teacher and then grown into the close friendship they had now. But it still made embarrassment rise up within him every time he thought about it and any time he heard a mention of the ‘Yule Ball Incident’ he blocked it from his hearing and hurried away in shame. Some things he didn’t need a reminder of and that night was one of them.

“And now you’re ‘friends’,” Phichit finished. “Honestly Yuuri, you’re wasting so many chances here. How many people could say they got to date their childhood hero.”

“He’s wasn’t my childhood hero,” Yuuri protested weakly and Phichit shot him a withering look.

“You had a poster of him hanging over your bed for years,” he pointed out dryly. “You used to doodle ‘Yuuri Nikiforov’ all over your parchment when you were bored.”

“Phichit,” Yuuri groaned but his friend just waved him away with a teasing laugh.

“I know, I know,” he grinned, poking Yuuri affectionately in the side as Yuuri tossed him a half-hearted glare. “You’re just _friends_.”

Phichit’s tone was not reassuring in the slightest.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Thankfully after that, Yuuri’s life returned to relative normalcy. Or at least, as normal as life at Hogwarts ever got. Viktor was still as friendly as ever, Phichit had managed to revolutionise the muggle studies department in only a few weeks and Yuuri hadn’t embarrassed himself too much after the incident-that-must-not-be-named.

Hogwarts life could be exhausting however and after one particularly tiring day, Yuuri wanted nothing more than to rest. He slumped down into his chair in the teacher’s lounge with a groan, intending not to move for at least several weeks. Next to him, Viktor was sitting reading a newspaper, Makkachin lying by his feet. Seeing Viktor there was a common occurrence, their chairs in the teacher’s lounge had used to be on opposite sides of the room but one day Viktor’s had reappeared next to his and there it had stayed.

“Anything interesting?” Yuuri asked tiredly, waving vaguely at the paper where a picture of Minister Baranovskaya was glaring sternly out at him. Viktor just shook his head, tossing the paper to one side and turning to Yuuri with a smile that made Yuuri’s heart leap a little in his chest.

“How was your day?” he asked and Yuuri sighed, rolling his eyes a little at the memory.

“I was trying to teach the fifth years how to transform solid walls into entrance ways,” he explained, recalling the incident with unfortunate clarity. “Yuri Plisetsky got frustrated when he couldn’t do it and decided to blast a hole in the wall instead.”

Viktor let out a snort of laughter which he quickly tried to hide with a sober expression.

“That sounds like quite the hassle to clean up,” he said, mouth fixed in a straight line as he tried not to laugh again.

“You wouldn’t happen to be the one to have taught him the bombarda charm would you?” Yuuri asked, arching an eyebrow and Viktor raised his hands in surrender, a look of mock innocence on his face.

“What can I say, he has a talent for destructive magic,” he replied and Yuuri rolled his eyes, glaring at Viktor fondly.

“Next time he does it, you’re cleaning it up,” he warned and Viktor grinned in reply, nodding his agreement and causing Yuuri to smile too. While the incident had been frustrating at the time, it was an amusing story to tell at least.

From beside Viktor, Makkachin let out an excited bark at the laughter, wagging his tail as he looked up at them both. Viktor reached down to scratch him behind the ears as Yuuri watched on fondly. He still missed Vicchan desperately, even a year after his death, but having Makkachin around helped.

Reaching down he started to pet Makkachin too and the dog panted happily, rolling over to expose his belly as Yuuri stroked him.

“Celestino should really get rid of that ridiculous rule about students only having owls, cats or toads as pets,” Viktor mused absently as he watched the two of them with a smile on his face. “Dogs are far better.”

“Don’t let Yuri Plisetsky hear you say that,” Yuuri joked and Viktor let out a short bark of laughter. Yuri’s fierce protectiveness over his cat Potya was well known around the school, as was Potya’s tendency to scratch everyone she didn’t like. Namely, everyone in the school bar Yuri himself. In comparison, Makkachin was quite possibly the most well-behaved dog Yuuri had ever met, to the point that he wasn’t quite sure he believed Viktor’s insistence that the poodle was entirely normal.

“It’s not like you paid much attention to that rule when you were in school anyway,” Yuuri added as Viktor grinned. The rules about what pets students could have were fairly lax but Viktor had been the first and only student to talk his way into Hogwarts halls with a puppy in tow. No-one knew quite how he had convinced the old headmaster to agree to it but Makkachin had stayed with him ever since.

“Yes, but no-one else has brought a dog for years,” Viktor pointed out, looking a little forlorn. “There should be more dogs around or Makka will get lonely.”

Yuuri had to agree. The lack of dogs at Hogwarts had made him very homesick for Vicchan when he had first arrived at the school, although he had never been able to flout the rules quite as brazenly as Viktor and bring him up to the castle anyway. When he had returned as a teacher, he had discussed with Celestino about bring Vicchan with him during the second term once he was more settled in but Vicchan’s sudden death put a rapid end to those plans.

“It’s a shame,” Viktor mused as Yuuri only paid him half a mind, the other half still concentrated on stroking Makkachin. “There was this one really adorable poodle Makka met when I came here a few years before I officially qualified. But when I came back for the job a couple of years later they were already gone. The person who owned them must have left by then and there haven’t been any dogs around since. Just lots of cats and owls.”

Yuuri choked on air, trying to conceal it by turning it into a rapid string of coughs that had Viktor startling and staring at him in concern. He had hoped beyond hope that that incident had been forgotten but apparently not.

After one very stressful summer spent training under Celestino, the then transfiguration professor, when he entered his seventh year at Hogwarts he was a fully-fledged and registered Animagus, one of the youngest ever. His poodle form was as dark as his hair, with faint markings around the eyes where his glasses usually sat, and he had found it a very useful disguise when he wanted to wander around the school or grounds unrecognised. While he now reserved the transformation solely for teaching purposes, back then a significant part of his final year had been spent hiding in his animal form when he wanted to think and be undisturbed.

A plan that had worked well for the most part, until one day when he had been met with a very excitable poodle who didn’t seem to recognise the fact that Yuuri was, in fact, not a dog at all. Followed quickly by a very excitable human who also didn’t seem to realise that key fact.

Yuuri had recognised Viktor and Makkachin instantly of course. Later he had found out the exact reason for Viktor’s return to the school, twenty two and already being offered the guarantee of a teaching position in a few years once his training was complete. But at the time all he had known was that one minute he was happily wandering the empty halls and the next, Viktor Nikiforov was suddenly calling him adorable and stroking his ears and he was far, far too embarrassed to transform back and correct the other man on his mistake.

It had been one short encounter years and years ago, long before Viktor actually returned as a teacher and even longer before Yuuri joined him. At that point, Viktor had still had no idea who Yuuri was and Yuuri had assumed it would remain that way for good. So he had banished the incident from his mind and vowed never to talk about it to anyone except Phichit, who had comforted him in his mortification once he had finally escaped.

Hearing Viktor bring up the incident again years later, even in such an offhand way, made all the embarrassment rise up in Yuuri again as he strengthened his vows never to transform in front of Viktor under any circumstances, just in case he was recognised. 

“Yeah, that’s a shame,” he mumbled, willing down the flush in his face, his head still ducked towards Makkachin and successfully hiding the worst of his pained expression. “Anyway, I have essays to mark tonight so I should probably go.”

Leaving before Viktor noticed his embarrassment seemed like by far the best idea and so he stood up quickly, ignoring Makkachin’s indignant huff at the sudden lack of petting going on and preparing to depart. A warm hand on his arm stopped him however and he looked down to see Viktor staring up at him from the chair, a look of disappointment on his face at the sight of Yuuri leaving.

“I’ve got things to mark tonight too,” he offered, sounding sincere. “Why don’t you come to my office and we can do it together.”

Part of Yuuri wanted to decline but the stronger part of him was powerless to refuse any offer that Viktor made. And it wasn’t like they hadn’t done it before. Marking essays was always unfathomably boring, no matter what, but somehow Viktor always found a way to liven the whole thing up considerably. During the previous year he had invited Yuuri over to do the work together a few times and the time always flew by much faster when he had Viktor by his side, making joking remarks over particularly bad answers and teasing each other over their remarkably different teaching styles.

“Ok, “Yuuri agreed and Viktor beamed at him, standing up and leading the way out of the room. Makkachin padded along happily behind them as they made their way through the twisting corridors of the castle towards Viktor’s office. A few students shot them curious looks as they walked but they both ignored them, too busy talking to each other.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

As the months past, life settled back into routine at the castle. Halloween came and went as the new students got accustomed to Hogwarts life and old students readjusted to the familiar. Yuuri’s life became a blur of eating, teaching and sleeping. And Viktor. Viktor was just as much a constant presence in his life as he had become the year before, sitting next to each other for meals, showing up randomly during Yuuri’s lessons, hanging out in the teacher’s lounge and hundreds of other little moments when Viktor simply existed in his world like he had always been there and always would be. Phichit teased Yuuri about it mercilessly but he brushed the words away easily enough.

The first big change in routine came with the start of the Quidditch season, something the whole school had been looking forward to for months. As November finally rolled around everyone began to prepare for the tournament ahead and tensions began to rise between the opposing house teams. Money changed hands as bets were placed on the winner and the sense of excitement in the air only grew.

The first match of the season found Yuuri, Viktor, Phichit and the majority of the rest of the Hogwarts staff sitting in the teacher’s box, waiting for the game to begin. The game was particularly important to Yuuri as his team were up first, Slytherin facing off against Ravenclaw. The old Slytherin scarf he had kept with him even after graduation was wrapped around his neck and he could feel the tension through his body as he waited for the game to start.

“Nervous?” Viktor asked, leaning over with a teasing smile, his legs propped up on the seat in front of him. Yuuri shot him a look of mock distain. He refused to watch his team lose again this year, house pride was at stake.

“We’ll win,” he replied confidently, although inside the nerves were already mounting. He might not play anymore but Quidditch was still an important part of Hogwarts life and the thrill of the game and of winning had never really left him. Nor Viktor, who was equally competitive when their house teams were involved.

“You sound confident for a team that came in third last year.” Viktor pointed out with a sly smile. His own team might have lost to Gryffindor the year before too but that had only been by the slimmest of margins. Slytherin had ended up much further behind.

“It’s Altin’s last year too,” Viktor added, nodding to where the Hufflepuff seeker was sitting in the crowds, watching the pitch with an unreadable expression on his face. Otabek Altin had brought home the trophy for his team on more than one occasion and Yuuri knew his narrow loss to Gryffindor the year before had stung. “Do you really think he’ll go down without a fight?”

“And you think Plisetsky will?” Yuuri replied and Viktor dipped his head, conceding the point. Otabek Altin might be the only person Yuri Plisetsky tolerated enough to consider a friend but out on the Quidditch pitch there was no mercy. Neither of them would give the other an inch, Yuuri knew that much for sure. He had seen them play against each other before and knew that the only concession Yuri ever made for his friend was the fact that he didn’t steal beaters bats to try and hit Otabek in the face with a bludger like he occasionally did to JJ Leroy.

The whistle blew and the players kicked off, Yuri shooting up to hover above the rest, green robes blowing in the wind and eyes searching. Ravenclaw took possession of the quaffle almost immediately and Yuuri tried to hide his groan.

The game progressed quickly, the quaffle changing from hand to hand with lightning speed. Ravenclaw scored the first goal and then the second, causing a wave of cheering from one side of the crowd and loud groans from the other. While most of the action was going on below, Yuuri kept his gaze mainly focused on the two seekers who were still circling the pitch high above. As an ex-seeker himself it was always easier to watch the game through the eyes of the position he knew well. Next to him, he could see Viktor doing the same.

It was less than half an hour into the game when it finally happened. Ravenclaw were up forty points to ten but it was Yuri who dived first, the Ravenclaw seeker only noticing what was happening when it was already too late. By the time the crowd had registered what was going on, Yuri had already ducked and weaved his way through the mess of players on the field and was pulling out of his steep dive with a tiny flash of gold clutched in his grip.

The green and silver side of the crowd broke out into cheering and Yuuri applauded too, feelings a proud smile break out onto his face. Viktor and Phichit were applauding next to him, Viktor looking impressed by the swift catch as the teams flew back to the ground to regroup, the whistle signalling the end of the match ringing out across the stadium.

“I told you we’d win,” Yuuri smirked at Viktor, who just rolled his eyes good naturedly.

“You promised you’d win the trophy, not the match,” he countered as the two teams began to leave the field, Yuri being congratulated heartily by his captain for the sudden win. “There’s still a long way to go yet.”

Together they walked back out of the stands, Phichit hanging back to talk to Professor Giacometti who had been sitting next to Viktor during the game. As they did so they talked animatedly about the teams and each of their chances for taking the trophy that year, mutually agreeing that, while the aim was to win, as long as one of their house teams beat Gryffindor they could consider the year a success.

It was such a natural routine for the two of them, friendly competitiveness over their house teams, analysing the game and joking and laughing together as they made their way back to the castle. A year ag,o Yuuri never would have considered that he could even hold a conversation with Viktor and yet now being friends felt as easy as breathing. And if occasionally he felt his heart flutter a little at the sound of Viktor’s laugh or the way the sun lit up his eyes, well that could be easily pushed to one side. For now at least.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

After the first disastrous ‘incident’, which had thankfully long since blown over, Yuuri had been doing a pretty good job at the whole denial business. He and Viktor were as friendly as ever, no-one had mentioned the first incident for months and Yuuri’s incredibly persistent feelings were remaining, for the most part, concealed. Friends was what he and Viktor were and friends was what Yuuri intended them to stay. He didn’t want to make things awkward between them with his seemingly never-ending crush on the other man and so he pushed it down, determined to lock it away for good.

His plans to try and ignore, avoid and generally conceal his crush seemed to be going relatively well, until one fateful afternoon in November during a visit to Professor Giacometti.

The day had started off ordinarily enough. He and Phichit had eaten breakfast together at the teacher’s table while Viktor sat beside Yuuri talking to Chris, occasionally stealing pieces of food of Yuuri’s plate while Yuuri swatted him good naturedly away. Morning classes had all gone relatively to plan, with only one minor accident involving a backfiring wand and an escaped mouse and Yuuri was almost considering the whole day a success.

During his free period that afternoon he dropped by Chris’ classroom out of necessity. There were papers he needed to deliver and he had been hoping to slip in and out without disturbing anyone before the lesson began.

When he arrived at the door to the dungeon classroom however it was to the general hubbub and noise of a class already getting into full swing. Yuuri almost turned to walk away, intending to come back later, but Chris noticed him hovering in the doorway and waved him in with a friendly smile. Being friends with Viktor naturally lead to becoming friends with Chris and while Yuuri wasn’t as close to the other teacher, they both got on well.

The class quietened a little as Yuuri slipped into the room, darting around the side of the classroom and dodging cauldrons to hand the papers over to Chris. He was just about to leave again when Chris caught his arm, a mischievous smile dancing in his eye.

“Since you’re here,” he began in a voice that Yuuri had learned to be wary of. “Would you mind helping us out for a few minutes? I promise it won’t take long.”

There was no way for Yuuri to refuse without looking unspeakably rude and so he nodded, feeling a little nervous about the gleam in Chris’ eye but with no easy way out. Chris turned back to the class, addressing the students in a much louder voice as silence fell.

“As I was saying,” he called out as the general chatter died down. “There are certain potions you should all be able to recognise and know how to avoid, or cure if necessary. Now, can anyone tell me the name of the potion beside me today?”

As he spoke he gestured to the teaching cauldron standing between the two of them which was filled with a pearly coloured liquid, steam rising in gentle spirals from its depths. Yuuri recognised it immediately but he kept his silence, waiting for a student to speak and wondering what on earth Chris needed him for.

One student raised her hand and when Chris pointed at her she spoke, sounding confident.

“It’s amortentia, Professor,” she answered. “The strongest love potion in the world.”

“Correct, ten points to Ravenclaw” Chris replied, looking pleased by the answer and Yuuri watched on, still a little confused. “Amortentia. Very powerful and very, very dangerous. Recognisable by its colour, the patterns of the steam and its distinctive smell. Now, can anyone tell me what amortentia smells like?”

When the class remained silent he turned to Yuuri, looking expectant. Yuuri wanted to ask what the point of him answering a question designed for students was but asking Chris his motives was usually an exercise in futility so he simply answered instead, dragging the knowledge back up from where it had been stored in the back of his mind from his own school days.

“It varies from person to person,” he replied, watching as some of the students hastened to scribble down notes as he spoke. “It smells like a combination of whatever attracts someone the most.”

Chris nodded as the sound of quills on parchment filled the air, the glint in his eyes still very present even as he smiled innocently at Yuuri.

“It does,” he confirmed, gesturing to the cauldron. “For example, Professor Katsuki. What do you smell?”

The wariness was still very present within him but Yuuri couldn’t see any harm in answering the question, nor any way to refuse. He had smelled amortentia once before as a student and there was hardly anything incriminating in the aroma for him. Learning down he inhaled some of the steam, taking a moment to try and process the scent again.

“Katsudon,” he replied instantly, recognising the first familiar smell with ease. “It’s a dish from home that my mother makes. Also…”

He took another breath, trying to identify the more subtly scents that were laced throughout the mixture.

“Ice?” he said, this time a little more hesitantly. “It smells like fresh snow or an ice rink, something like that. And something else. Something sort of floral I think? But it’s also sharp, not like any flower I’ve ever smelled before. I don’t really know what it is.”

He shrugged, looking back up at Chris who was looking extremely satisfied with the answer. The smell was familiar, comforting but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

“It’s not uncommon,” he remarked as the class broke out into whispers around them. “Lots of people don’t know what it is that they want until it’s staring them in the face.”

The general chatter in the classroom grew as the students began to discuss and take notes and Chris lowered his voice, turning to speak solely to Yuuri again.

“Thanks for stepping in,” Chris told him with a smile. “That’s all I needed you for, you can go now if you have somewhere else to be.”

It was Yuuri’s free period so he was in no rush but there was no point hanging around the classroom any longer now that the lesson was well underway.

“Why did you need me in the first place?” Yuuri asked, still confused. It seemed like a rather pointless exercise since Chris could have achieved the same results by doing the demonstration alone. “Why didn’t you just do it for yourself.”

“Maybe what I smell isn’t appropriate for a classroom,” Chris replied with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle and Yuuri deeply regretted asking the question in the first place. Chris was a model teacher around the students but around the other teachers alone he was shameless. Yuuri had long since gotten used to it however.

Instead of replying he simply shot Chris an exasperated look and turned to leave, making his way out of the door and leaving the chaos of the class behind. Before he had taken more than a few steps however a familiar silver head appeared at the other end of the corridor, long flowing robes swirling around the figure as he walked.

“Viktor,” Yuuri called out in surprise, hurrying over the last few steps so that they were standing facing each other. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting Chris,” Viktor replied with a casual wave of his hand. He and Chris had been friends long before Yuuri arrived at the school and so the reply was hardly a surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I had some papers to drop off,” Yuuri shrugged, glancing back at the door of the classroom. “Then Chris wanted me for a demonstration and I got held up.”

Viktor clutched his heart in mock offence, giving Yuuri the look of deepest betrayal.

“You never come to my class to do demonstrations,” he said, tone mournful as Yuuri tried not to roll his eyes at the display.  “Do you like Chris better than me?”

“You know that I don’t,” Yuuri pointed out and Viktor dropped the act, grinning back again. “Anyway, you wouldn’t want me to help you with demonstrations in your class. I was never very good at charms.”

“I don’t know, your charms seem pretty effective to me,” Viktor replied, his tone light and teasing. Yuuri had to disagree, transfiguration was always his forte and charms had never come naturally to him. But there was no point arguing with Viktor when he was in a teasing mood and so Yuuri simply shrugged, brushing the words away.

“Sorry, I need to go,” he told Viktor with an apologetic smile. There was still work to be done before his next class started and he had delayed enough as it is. “See you at dinner?”

“Of course,” Viktor replied, smile still in place but falling a little as he turned away. He headed off in the direction of Chris’ classroom, disappearing through the door and Yuuri was just about to walk away too when he froze.

There was a faint scent in the air around him from where Viktor had walked past. Something vaguely floral but a little sharp at the same time, something Yuuri had smelled a thousand times before but never really registered until that moment. The scent of Viktor’s cologne, or maybe just Viktor himself, Yuuri wasn’t quite sure. Comforting and familiar and the exact same scent that he had smelling in the potion not minutes before.

Yuuri groaned, rubbing a hand across his eyes and trying to banish this inconvenient new knowledge. Pretending his feelings for Viktor didn’t exist was proving much harder than he had first thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the report from the YOI museum, the life-sized Viktor statue actually does smell floral so I'm now considering that as canon. Also, as a Ravenclaw, you have no idea how painful it was for me to make them lose the Quidditch game. But oh well, it's all for the plot.
> 
> I'd love to here your thoughts on the new chapter! Also, if you want more of my fic things you can find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Finally, there's been some absolutely gorgeous things made for this fic! 
> 
> sarang-us drew a stunning picture of the final scene of the first chapter  
> [here](https://sarang-us.tumblr.com/post/163365828204/because-im-already-loving-kazliins-hogwarts-au)
> 
> forovnix wrote and sung an incredible song based on the fic (it's so catchy, I've been singing it for weeks I swear)  
> [here](https://forovnix.tumblr.com/post/163342876411/so-kazliins-hogwarts-au-was-so-fonkin-cute-that)
> 
> jelly-guiro drew an amazing picture set of Professors Katsuki and Nikiforov  
> [here](http://jelly-guiro.tumblr.com/post/163411615609/its-been-a-while-isnt-it-hi-college-is)
> 
> sheltered-by-viktuuri drew a wonderful picture of Yuuri  
> [here](https://sheltered-by-viktuuri.tumblr.com/post/163539945134/professor-katsuki-from-kazliins-falling-for)
> 
> thebarnowldrawsagain drew two fantastic pictures of Yuuri and Viktor  
> [here](https://thebarnowldrawsagain.tumblr.com/post/163701454979/made-a-drawing-of-kazliin-s-professor-viktor)  
> [here](https://thebarnowldrawsagain.tumblr.com/post/163780693254/when-youre-headed-to-class-to-hand-back-tests)


	3. November - December

The thing that Yuuri always marvelled about was how quickly time seemed to fly at Hogwarts. The next couple of weeks passed by faster than he could blink, filled with the unpredictable excitement of castle life. The second quidditch match of the season came and went, leaving Viktor groaning over his house team’s narrow loss to Gryffindor, and before Yuuri knew it, November was nearly at an end and he woke up one morning with the sudden realisation that it was his birthday.

When he opened his eyes that morning, it was to a small pile of gifts neatly wrapped at the foot of his bed, his mother and father’s familiar handwriting visible on the topmost parcel. When he approached the stack he could see similar packages from his sister, from Minako and from Yuuko and Takeshi. Despite keeping his birthday quiet around the school, seeing the gifts from his family and friends at home made him smile.

There wasn’t enough time to open any of them before breakfast but Yuuri’s good mood continued as he made his way down to the Great Hall for the start of the day. The teacher’s table was already half-filled when he arrived and as soon as he entered the hall, Phichit waved him over to his customary seat, sandwiched between Phichit’s own and Viktor. Viktor was already at the table too, looking unfairly bright and cheerful for so early in the morning. He greeted Yuuri as he sat down but Yuuri’s attention was quickly drawn away and back to Phichit, who was looking at him with a huge grin on his face.

“Happy birthday Yuuri!” he exclaimed as soon as Yuuri sat down, causing several of the other teachers around them to look over curiously.  Yuuri had refused to make a big deal out of his birthday the year previously, still too new to the job and not feeling fully settled into life at the castle yet, so he hadn’t mentioned it to anybody. It seemed this year though, Phichit was refusing to let the date go by unnoticed.

“Thanks Phichit,” Yuuri replied with a smile, trying to ignore the stares of the other teachers and the students closest to them. Still grinning, Phichit pulled him into a tight hug, seemingly completely oblivious to the stares that they were drawing from the people around them.

“Twenty-four,” he exclaimed when he finally let Yuuri go. “God Yuuri, you’re getting old. Soon your hair is going to be as grey as Viktor’s.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but snort at that, even as he shot Phichit a reproachful look at the jab. When Phichit just laughed, he rolled his eyes and turned around, expecting to hear a scandalised ‘It’s _silver_ not grey’ from where Viktor was sitting behind him. When he looked around however, Viktor wasn’t preparing to counter Phichit’s teasing at all, instead he was staring at Yuuri with a look of shock on his face.

“Yuuri, you never told me that it’s your birthday,” he exclaimed, looking like Yuuri had just kicked Makkachin rather than forgot to mention he was officially a year older.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” he continued, still looking a little scandalised. “I haven’t even bought you a present.”

“My present for you is in my office and trust me, you’re going to love it,” Phichit told Yuuri, tone smug and with a light-hearted challenge in his voice as he spoke, eyes flickering over Yuuri’s shoulder to look pointedly at where Viktor was sitting. “You’d better step up your game Nikiforov.”

“No Viktor, don’t worry about it,” Yuuri cut in, seeing the expression on Viktor’s face and attempting to halt the proceedings before Phichit managed to turn the conversation into an outright competition. He and Viktor had taken to friendly teasing almost instantly but they both had very competitive natures and Yuuri absolutely didn’t want to be caught in the middle of elaborate gift giving battle. There was a reason he kept his birthday quiet around the castle after all.

“Yuuri, you should have told me it was your birthday today,” Viktor continued, a reproachful look on his face that made Yuuri’s heart melt. He didn’t need presents from Viktor and it had never really crossed his mind to warn the other man of the date but he had never been able to resist that particular expression. “I would have done something special if I’d known.”

“Honestly Viktor, I don’t need a present,” he insisted, although his willpower was rapidly crumbling under the onslaught of Viktor’s puppy dog eyes. “You don’t have to buy me anything.”

“Then let me give you something at least,” Viktor replied, expression determined. “It’s your birthday today, I couldn’t let it pass without doing anything. What kind of friend would I be then?”

From behind him, Yuuri heard Phichit let out a barely concealed snort at the word ‘friend’ and pressed his heel back as surreptitiously as he could under the table to stamp on Phichit’s toes, effectively shutting him up.

While Yuuri was preoccupied with making sure Phichit didn’t give away anything that he definitely did not want Viktor to know, Viktor pulled out his wand, flicking it quickly through the air in a neat circle. When Yuuri finally focused his full attention on him again, Viktor was holding out a bouquet of blue roses, the petals as bright as the summer sky.

“You once told me that your favourite flowers were roses,” Viktor explained, looking incredibly pleased with himself. “And that your favourite colour was blue. So I hope you’ll accept these even if you won’t let me buy you a present.”

Yuuri could feel the colour rising in his face at that and tried desperately to force it back down, very aware of the multiple pairs of eyes that were fixed on him. He could almost hear Phichit vibrating in silent laughter behind him and was absolutely sure that he would not be hearing the end of the incident any time soon. Viktor probably didn’t think anything of the significance of the gesture but Yuuri knew that wasn’t going to save him from Phichit’s teasing the minute they left the hall.

“Thank you Viktor,” he replied instead, keeping his voice as steady as he could and determinately not reading too much into the choice of gift. Flowers were a common enough present after all, pretty and easy to make with magic. Viktor had used to be showered with them every time he had won another quidditch cup back in his school days. It was actually the reason for Yuuri’s flower preference, not that he would ever admit it. Roses always reminded him of the flower crowns Viktor had been presented with after another successful cup win, the way he had smiled with delight as they were placed on his head, blue and silver intertwined, and caused a flutter in Yuuri’s heart as he watched.

Yuuri would never admit that, just as he would never admit that, when Viktor had absentmindedly asked him about his favourite colour the year before, he had blurted out blue without even thinking about it, too caught up in gazing at the colour of Viktor’s eyes to properly think his answer through. There were some things that were definitely better kept secret.

Very aware of how a number of the teachers and a significant portion of the students were now glancing over at them in interest, Yuuri set the flowers down next to him on the table, resolving to find a vase to keep them in as soon as he returned to his rooms.

“Eh, my present is still better,” Phichit cut in, raising a teasing eyebrow at Viktor, who’s face took on an unmistakable pout at the words. Yuuri had to bite back laughter at the petulant expression.

“Honestly Viktor, I love them,” he insisted, not wanting to appear ungrateful and reaching over to rest his hand on Viktor’s own, watching as the other man’s face broke out into a pleased smile.

Embarrassed as he was at the amount of fussing being made over him, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a little flutter of joy in his heart at Viktor’s smile, bright and joyful and reaching all the way up to his eyes. They weren’t the same blue as the flowers Viktor had presented him with, darker and with a more greenish hue, but Yuuri couldn’t help but think they were far prettier.

He quickly stamped that thought out as soon as it had entered his head. Now was not the time.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

November quickly rolled into December, bringing the cold and frost with it. Flowers withered away under the chill, students hurried between classes with scarfs wrapped tightly around their faces and everyone was eagerly anticipating the first snowfall of the year. The only person who didn’t seem to be feeling the effects of the cold was Viktor, who laughed at Yuuri when he bundled up under several more layers than normal.

Viktor always seemed to thrive in the cold and, when the snow finally did start to fall, he took to insisting Yuuri walk with him through the school grounds to enjoy the newest change in the weather whenever they had a free day. Yuuri had to admit that it made a beautiful scene, the whole castle and forest covered in a blanket of white.

“I’ve always loved winter,” Viktor exclaimed one day as they strolled side by side, watching as the students enjoyed the snow, screaming with laughter as they chased each other with handfuls of the white powder or lobed snowballs at each other with glee. Viktor had already had to deflect a few strays that had come close to hitting them both, but neither of them had the heart to tell any of the students off for having fun. Yuuri was sure that if they didn’t both have reputations as mature professors to uphold, they probably would have joined in.

Yuuri hummed in agreement, pulling his robes a little tighter around himself as he did so and glancing up into the sky where more tiny flakes of white had begun to drift down around them again. 

“There’s a lot more snow this year than I’ve ever seen before,” he mused, catching one of the delicate flakes on the palm of his hand and watching as it melted with the heat of his body.

“Definitely more than last year,” Viktor agreed, watching Yuuri with a smile playing at the corner of his lips. “It’s colder too. Although the Great Lake still hasn’t frozen over. Back in school, I remember always hoping that it would, but it never did.”

“Some of the smaller ponds in the forbidden forest freeze over about this time,” Yuuri pointed out absentmindedly, then caught the curious look that Viktor shot him and elaborated.

“I used to ice skate, before I came here for school,” he explained, feeling a fondness bloom in his chest at the memory of the old hobby from his childhood. When he had arrived at Hogwarts, Quidditch had taken over his life, fuelled by his admiration of Viktor and the thrill he got from the screams of the crowd and the swooping in his stomach as he dived through the air. But he had never quite been able to let go of the ice and the sport he had loved as a child.

“Sometimes in the winter, I used to go to the outskirts of the forest when I needed to think.” He continued. “There was a pond there that used to freeze over every year and I went there when I wanted to skate and get away from it all.”

“And here I was thinking you must have been a model pupil at school,” Viktor teased, although his eyes were soft as Yuuri spoke. “Going into the forest is forbidden you know.”

“Only if you get caught,” Yuuri pointed out with a grin. He might have stuck to the rules for the most part during his time at school but he hadn’t been perfect by any means. And the little frozen pond had been a safe haven for him, somewhere where he could go to skate and be alone when he needed it.

“I haven’t done it since I came back though,” he added quickly, hoping Viktor hadn’t misinterpreted what he meant. They were teachers now after all, they were supposed to uphold the rules, even if Viktor was notoriously lax about the majority of them. “I wanted to but considering the forest is banned, it would set a bad example.”

Instead of replying, Viktor looked contemplative for a second and there was a gleam in his eye that Yuuri had seen many times before. It usually boded something either amazing or a truly terrible decision in the making. Before he could ask what it meant however, Viktor was already grabbing his hand and pulling him back the way they had come and towards the Great Lake.

“Viktor, where are we going,” Yuuri asked, seeing the words mist in the air before him as Viktor dragged him back through their path in the snow.

“I’ve had an idea,” Viktor grinned, not stopping as he spoke and continuing to tug Yuuri forwards, around the lake to a quiet section where the laughter of the students playing was muted. When they finally reached the lake’s edge, Viktor bent down, drawing his wand out of his robes to touch the tip to the frigid waters.

Immediately, crystals began to form on the surface, spreading out from where the tip of Viktor’s wand had touched, tendrils shooting outwards until they touched the opposite shore before solidifying into a thick coating of ice. In a few heartbeats, the whole lake was frozen over, a sturdy layer of ice coating it in its entirety.

“It’s the perfect solution,” Viktor grinned when Yuuri turned to look at him, knowing his surprise must be reflected in his features from the power of the freezing charm Viktor had just performed. Not that he should have expected any less. “You can’t skate in the forest anymore but this way, no-one is breaking any rules.”

“I don’t think the merpeople will be too happy with you,” Yuuri said faintly, hoping the words would hide the way his heart leapt in his chest or the pink tinge to his cheeks that he prayed Viktor would simply attribute to the cold.

“I’ll unfreeze it as soon as we’re done,” Viktor said, waving the concern away. “Come on Yuuri, it’s the weekend. Let’s have fun. You said you liked ice skating didn’t you? Why don’t you show me how it’s done.”

It was far too tempting an offer to resist. Yuuri hadn’t had the chance to skate since he had last been to the ice rink back home and he had missed it, much as he loved being at Hogwarts and everything that came with it. And on top of that, the excuse to spend more time with Viktor wasn’t one he was ever going to turn down.

“Fine,” he agreed with a smile, before glancing down at the ice in front of them. “But if you really want to do this, we’re going to need skates.”

Reaching down, he pulled his own wand from his robes, lifting up one of his feet and touching the tip to the sole of his shoe, muttering a quick spell as he did so. Instantly he could feel as the rubber lengthened and hardened, a sharp blade forming across the sole and the leather shifting into something far more sturdy until the boots he had been wearing were completely transformed. There was a low whistle from beside him and he looked up so see Viktor looking at him with wide eyes.

“I’ve never seen that spell before,” Viktor observed, sounding impressed as Yuuri aimed his wand at his other shoe, transfiguring it to match until he was standing on a familiar pair of skates. “Where did you learn it?”

“I didn’t.” Yuuri shrugged. “I invented it.”

As he spoke, he flicked his wand at Viktor’s shoes, watching as the other man stumbled a little as they morphed into a matching pair of skates. While watching Viktor slide around the ice in his shoes would be highly entertaining, Yuuri figured Viktor would probably prefer to join him on actual ice skates.

“You’ll have to teach it to me someday,” Viktor told him, still sounding impressed.

“I will,” Yuuri agreed, taking a step forward to test out the ice in front of him. Viktor had done his job with the freezing charm well, the ice was solid and no cracks appeared even when Yuuri rested his full weight on it. Convinced that it wasn’t going to break and send him plunging into the freezing waters below the minute he tried to skate, Yuuri pushed off from the shore, feeling his body fall back into the familiar feeling of gliding across the ice again.

He allowed himself a few seconds to readjust to the feeling, skating in a simple circle while Viktor watched from the shore and allowing his body to relax into the movements. When he turned back around, Viktor was grinning at him, already taking his first steps out onto the ice with an air of confidence that Yuuri had definitely not felt himself the first time he had tried to skate.

“This doesn’t seem so hard,” Viktor remarked, only wobbling a little as he joined Yuuri further out on the frozen lake. Yuuri almost reached out to offer to take Viktor’s hand and keep him from falling but restrained himself at the last minute.

Instead he pushed off again and Viktor followed, skirting round the edges of the lake as Viktor got a feel for the movements. Yuuri couldn’t help but notice that he was a natural, only stumbling a few times and very quickly settling into a rhythm, keeping pace with Yuuri as they glided together.

There was a light breeze dancing across the lake, brushing across their faces and shifting the loose strands of Viktor’s hair that had fallen around his face. The sun was low in the sky, the days growing shorter and shorter as the winter progressed but even in the low light, Yuuri could still see the gleeful expression on Viktor’s face as he skated. He was so distracted by looking at the other man that he barely paid attention to what his own feet were doing, only snapping back into full awareness when an uneven patch of ice caught his skate and sent him stumbling.

“Come on Yuuri, I thought you were supposed to be good at this,” Viktor teased as Yuuri flailed a little to regain his balance, cursing himself for his distraction. “You’re starting to make me think that I’m better at skating than you are.”

Yuuri just shot him a glare, all his sappily affectionate thoughts wiped away as his competitive streak reared its head at the words. Before it had been fun but now his pride was at stake.

“Are you sure?” he replied, raising and eyebrow and watching as Viktor grinned delightedly back.

“Why don’t you prove me wrong then,” Viktor teased, gesturing to the ice before them.

Not willing to back down from a challenge, Yuuri skated forward and picked up speed, casting his mind back to the lessons he had taken years ago. He still skated at home every now and then so his skills weren’t too rusty but it had  been a while since he had done anything too advanced.

As he skated, he could feel Viktor’s eyes on him and he geared up for a jump, wanting to impress. Jumps had never been his strongest suit in skating but he went for it anyway, launching himself into a double salchow as soon as he had enough speed and landing again, a little shaky but upright all the same.

It wasn’t his best jump, out of practice as he was, but when he turned around Viktor was still looking delighted, giving Yuuri an enthusiastic round of applause as he skated back over.

“Alright, you win,” Viktor conceded with a wide smile as Yuuri skated back to his side, shoulders bumping gently together as he skidded round to a stop. “I don’t think I’ll be trying that any time soon.”

“Not unless you want to end up falling over,” Yuuri agreed with a laugh. “You’re good for a beginner but you should probably just stick to the basics for now.” 

After that, Viktor seemed content to follow his lead, both of them skating lazy circles around the lake and each other, Yuuri occasionally switching to skate backwards or spin at Viktor request, enjoying the delight on Viktor’s face as he did so. Once, Viktor tried to join him but almost immediately lost his footing, grabbing onto Yuuri’s robe with a startled yelp and nearly pulling both of them down into a heap on the ice.

Yuuri’s arms automatically went around Viktor’s waist, just barely saving them both from an undignified collapse. Viktor’s feet still slid out from under him however and his wand dislodged from under his robes, going skittering out across the ice away from them as he struggled to keep his balance. Viktor’s arms were wrapped tightly around Yuuri, pressing them together as he found his feet again and Yuuri could feel his heart race furiously at the unintentional position it put them both in. He stepped away as soon as he could, ducking down to pick up Viktor’s wand in an attempt to hide the expression on his face and handing it wordlessly back to its owner.

“Thanks,” Viktor told him with a laugh once he had righted himself again, flashing Yuuri a dazzling smile as he took his wand from Yuuri’s hand. “I wouldn’t want to lose this, I’m pretty attached to it after all.”

“It is a nice wand,” Yuuri agreed, gasping for the first thread of conversation that came to mind, hoping to skip entirely past mentioning what had just happened a few seconds earlier. “Dogwood is an unusual choice but it suits you.”

“I agree,” Viktor said as he looked down at the wand fondly, twirling it once in his hand before securing it safely back in his robe. “Dogwood and unicorn hair. It’s the first wand I ever bought and I’ve never had another one. I’d rather not lose it now.

“Unicorn hair?” Yuuri asked, then mentally kicked himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Viktor just looked amused.

“Should it be anything else?” he asked, tone light as he waited for an answer.

“No, I just, uh, assumed…” Yuuri trailed off, realising how rude the assumption would sound if he tried to voice it out loud and wishing he had just kept his mouth shut. Thankfully, Viktor took pity on him and just laughed, waving Yuuri’s embarrassment away.

“You assumed that it would be Veela hair?” he asked, voice still light and thankfully not sounding offended like Yuuri had feared. “Don’t worry, everyone does. But I’m only half Veela, my hair definitely wouldn’t be strong enough to work as a wand core and I’m not arrogant to use my own hair in my wand even if it was. And I never knew my mother so I could hardly use one of hers.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry!” Yuuri blurted out, feeling his mortification rising at Viktor’s words. Viktor just waved his concern away, looking entirely unaffected.

“Don’t worry Yuuri, you’re not,” he reassured, causing Yuuri to let out a faint sigh of relief. “We’re friends, you’re allowed to ask me about these things.”

During his time at school, many people had asked Viktor about his past, curious about his unusual heritage and unfamiliar accent, but Yuuri had never been one of them. Now that the opportunity had presented itself however, he couldn’t help himself but be curious. Viktor had always kept the subject of his past tightly sealed and it made something warm flutter in Yuuri’s chest that he spoke about it so casually to Yuuri now.

“I did always wonder…” Yuuri began hesitantly, his curiosity warring with his hesitance, not wanting to ask anything that would make Viktor uncomfortable. Viktor didn’t seem to mind however, just began to speak, still skating close to Yuuri’s side as he did so.

“My Veela side comes from my mother but my biological father was a wizard. He came from one of the old pureblood families back in Russia,” Viktor told him, voice sounding very deliberately casual as he spoke. “Very rich and very influential. They way I’ve heard it, when he was around my age, his family started pressuring him to get married. An arranged marriage of course, to another high class, pureblood girl. Well, my father didn’t like that idea so much and one day, when he was travelling, he met my mother and decided to run away with her. Nine months later and there I was.”

“What happened to her?” Yuuri asked, before immediately snapping his mouth shut again. Viktor might have mentioned never knowing his mother but that didn’t mean he would want to talk about the reason why. Viktor didn’t seem to mind the question however and he continued, still keeping his voice deliberately light and casual.

“My father’s family were furious with him when they found out what he had done and cut him off completely.” Viktor continued, words matter of fact. “The money he had left ran out very quickly after that. He was used to being a rich man, it didn’t take long for him to end up begging them to take him back. They agreed, but only if he denounced my mother and married the girl they had chosen for him.”

Viktor sighed and looked away for a second before turning back to focus on Yuuri again.

“My father…wasn’t a good person,” he explained and Yuuri could feel the anger building in his chest at the man he had never even met with every word that Viktor spoke. When he had asked about Viktor’s past, this hadn’t been what he was expecting. “He claimed my mother had bewitched him into running away with her with her Veela magic and forced her away. I never knew her, I don’t even remember what she looked like. I confronted him about it once, years later but he said he had no idea how to find her. I’ve still kept looking though.”

“Viktor I’m so sorry,” Yuuri murmured softly, not sure how to process the new revelation or soothe the sadness that had appeared in Viktor’s eyes as he spoke. Hesitantly, he reached out, slipping one hand into Viktor’s own and hoping that the contact would help express what he was failing to with words. Viktor glanced down at their linked hands, looking briefly surprised but then he smiled softly at Yuuri.

“Don’t be,” Viktor said, although he didn’t drop Yuuri’s hand. Instead he pulled Yuuri a little closer as they continued to skate and Yuuri went along without even thinking about it.

“I barely know him, thankfully,” Viktor added and Yuuri felt a grim sense of relief at that. Someone like that didn’t deserve someone as bright as Viktor in their lives. “The minute he arrived back home with me in tow, his family were horrified. Blood purity was important to them and their son could hardly marry a good pureblood girl with me as his firstborn. They gave him a choice between the family money and power and me and, well, I’m sure you can guess what he chose.”

Yuuri gave Viktor’s fingers a comforting squeeze and they slid to a stop, Viktor turning to face him fully and pulling on of his familiar smiles back onto his face.

“But it doesn’t matter now,” he told Yuuri without a hint of a lie in his voice. “I’m glad he gave me up to be honest. I had a good childhood, the people who took me in were kind, even if they were muggles and didn’t know anything about magic. One of the women who worked at the children’s home where I grew up took a special liking to me. She was the one who chose my name and she used to tell me that I was special and I would do great things one day. I think she sensed that there was something different about me, even if she wasn’t sure what. Lots of strange things used to happen around me, even if I didn’t realise what it was back then. That’s how Yakov heard about me.”

It was a name Yuuri recognised well, both from his previous familiarity with what little of Viktor’s life was common knowledge and from the wizarding world in general. Yakov Feltsman was something of a legend at the ministry of magic, his fame only outstripped by that of his adoptive son.

“He was back home in Russia to visit some friends when he heard the overheard rumours about me,” Viktor continued with a fond expression on his face. “He recognised what I was right away and came to see me as soon as he could. I was still young, I barely understood what was happening but he ended up adopting me the next day. He lived over here for work, I went with him and he’s been stuck with me ever since.”

The final sentence was said with a grin, the fond affection still clear in Viktor’s eyes.

“Yakov’s been more of a father to me than anyone else ever could be,” he added. “He taught me everything he knew and to never be ashamed of who I am.”

“You’re perfect the way you are,” Yuuri said without thinking and Viktor smiled at him, the expression lighting up his whole face as he did so. 

“Thank you Yuuri,” he said and the warmth on his face was reflected in his voice as he laced their fingers a little tighter together. “But enough about me. I’ve told you my story, now it’s your turn to tell me yours.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Yuuri shrugged. Compared to Viktor, his past now seemed entirely uneventful and completely ordinary. “I was born in Japan but my family’s hotsprings went bankrupt when I was very young. My parents decided to move over here because we had family living here who could help us out and we’ve been here ever since.”

The first thing Yuuri had done when he had finally graduated was to help recreate his family onsen, with just enough strategically placed confundus charms that nobody ever questioned quite how it came to be there. Now it was famous for miles around and the family business was thriving.

“No-one even realised I was a wizard until a few months before my eleventh birthday,” he added, remembering his family’s utter shock at the first signs of his magic, barely a few months before his Hogwarts letter arrived. “My family are all muggles so getting the letter was definitely a surprise.”

“I can’t imagine that was easy, considering the history of your house,” Viktor said thoughtfully but Yuuri was glad to hear that there was no pity in his voice.

“Some people in my house weren’t too happy about it, no,” Yuuri agreed, the sting of the old memories faded now but still very present. “And there were other people who just didn’t like my house in general. I decided to prove them all wrong.”

Being flung into the wizarding world had been hard but his time at school had been made infinitely harder by students both from his own house and those in others. There had been people in his house that he had gotten along with, even become friends with, but there were others who had been far less accepting. Some had gone so far as to claim he didn’t belong there, that the hat had made a mistake when it had assigned him to Slytherin. Others in the school simply disliked Slytherins in general, it’s less than perfect history making anyone wearing green and silver an easy target. His first few years at the school hadn’t been easy by any means.

“And now you’re the Head of House,” Viktor finished for him. “I remember when Celestino recommended you for the job. He promised there was no-one who would represent Slytherin better.”

Yuuri remembered it too, the terror of the responsibility so early in his career warring with his desire to prove himself. Heads of House were usually far more experienced teachers and he had never expected the position to be thrust on him so soon. But halfway through his first year of teaching, the old Slytherin Head had been forced to unexpectedly retire, leaving a vacancy that urgently needing to be filled. Celestino had asked him to step in for the remainder of the term, promising that Yuuri could step down as soon as year was over if he felt like he wasn’t suited to the position.

Yuuri had been terrified taking on a task so huge so suddenly but there had also been a thrill in being asked to represent his house, to prove wrong everyone who said his sorting had been a mistake and to show the rest of the school they were wrong about his house and the majority of students in it. He refused to let Slytherin’s bad reputation persist and by the end of the year, he had realised he had no desire to relinquish his position. Celestino had been more than happy to let him stay on and his student seemed happy enough to keep him around as the Head of House for the foreseeable future. 

“I wish I’d known you back at school,” Viktor added, still smiling slightly. “I’m sure you must have been something special.”

Yuuri had to disagree. Viktor had been the most well-loved person in the school while he had been a shy teenager with a huge crush that he was unable to hide. He probably wouldn’t have been able to form full sentences around Viktor, let alone impress him enough for Viktor to want to get to know him.

“Not really, I was very average,” he shrugged instead of voicing the rest of his thoughts out loud, knowing that particular part of his past was destined to remain a permanent secret. 

“I’ve heard about your Quidditch career, I know that’s not true,” Viktor chided lightly and Yuuri ducked his head away, feeling a flush of embarrassment at the words. It was true that his Quidditch career hadn’t been entirely unremarkable but he had also never reached the legendary status that Viktor had.

Viktor opened his mouth, looking like he was about to speak again, but he cut himself off when a breeze cut across them both and caused Yuuri to shiver involuntarily, the sun dipping below the horizon giving off no comforting heat as the evening crept in. Viktor glanced at the horizon too, taking note of the late hour before flashing a quick glance over to the opposite shore of the lake where the students were all trickling back up to the castle, clearing in search of dinner.

“I had no idea we had been out so long,” Viktor said in surprise at the sight and Yuuri nodded in agreement. The time with Viktor had flown by but they couldn’t stay out much longer as the last of the light began to fade.

“We should go back inside,” he replied, tugging lightly on Viktor’s arm to pull him back in the direction of the shore. When they were finally back on dry land, Viktor unfroze the lake as Yuuri returned their shoes to normal before they began to make their way back to the castle.

“I had fun today,” Viktor remarked as they neared the front doors, both of them eagerly seeking warmth after so long out on the ice.

“So did I,” Yuuri replied, turning to smile at the other man. Despite the heaviness of their topic of conversation, Yuuri didn’t regret a single thing about their day. Instead, he felt closer to Viktor than ever. As they walked, there was a part of him that wanted to reach out, to link his fingers with Viktor’s own as they re-entered the castle the way he had done out on the ice but he pushed the urge back down with a great deal of difficulty.

There were a few students standing at the entrance to the castle who shot the two of them apprising looks as they re-entered the building but Yuuri ignored them. He was far too focused on Viktor.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

In the run up to Christmas, the castle began to take on a whole new appearance, aided by the help of the students and more enthusiastic of the teachers. Decorations appeared around every corner, mistletoe hung from every archway and someone seemed to have managed to convince Viktor to charm all the suits of armour to sing Christmas carols whenever anyone walked past. The whole school was looking incredibly festive and everyone was counting down the days until the holidays.

The last few weeks of term sped by and before Yuuri knew it, the final day was upon them. Classes finished early and the school was filled with the hustle and bustle of students preparing to leave the castle for the holidays. Yuuri knew that several of the teachers were intending to remain but he had already arranged his journey home, wanting to spend time with his family after several months spent apart.

The final feast was full of holiday cheer, although Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy at the thought of the coming break in Hogwarts life. Both Phichit and Viktor were leaving too and it would be strange to not see them until the new term began after nearly four months of living in each other’s pockets.  Yuuri had grown used to seeing their faces every day and much as he was looking forward to spending time with his family, he also knew that he would miss his friends, even in the short time that they were apart.

They spent the last feast talking and laughing, Phichit finally bowing out early to finish packing for his early travel the next morning. Yuuri and Viktor lingered, picking at their food as the number of people at the tables around them dwindled but finally they both agreed that it was time to call it a night. They left the Great Hall together, continuing to talk as they left the room and into the entrance hall beyond.

“I almost can’t believe it’s the end of term already,” Yuuri said absentmindedly as they walked past groups of students chatting around the staircases. “Time has gone by so fast.”

“It really has,” Viktor agreed, head half turned to look at Yuuri as they walked and with a small smile playing across his face as he spoke. “Do you realise Yuuri, it was nearly a year ago that we first met. At the Yule Ball, do you remember?”

Yuuri had to suppress a groan at that, the incident definitely not one of his proudest moments. Making a fool out of himself in front of Viktor and then running away and hiding for the rest of the night was something that he’d rather wipe from their shared history. It was a wonder Viktor had even bothered to talk to him after that, no matter how glad Yuuri was that he had.

“I try not to think about the Yule Ball too much,” he replied, trying to keep his tone light-hearted to hide the embarrassment he was still feeling even a year later.

Viktor was silent beside him and when Yuuri turned to look, his smile was gone and instead his expression had grown contemplative, eyebrows furrowed a little. Before the conversation could continue however, they both came to a halt at a branching in the corridor. It was there that their paths always parted, Yuuri heading down deeper into the castle towards the dungeons and the Slytherin quarters and Viktor off towards the kitchens to his own rooms near the Hufflepuff dormitories.

“Will I see you tomorrow before you leave?” Yuuri asked as they both prepared to go their separate ways, not wanting to miss saying a proper goodbye. He was getting up early in the morning to see Phichit off but he had no idea when Viktor was intending to depart. Viktor just shook his head in response.

“I’m leaving tonight,” he explained and Yuuri felt a little flash of disappointment run through him at the words.

“Oh,” Yuuri said, trying to keep the irrational disappointment off his face. “Goodbye then Viktor.”

Then, before he could second guess himself, he reached out and drew Viktor into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around the other man and pressing his face into Viktor’s shoulder. He would miss Viktor a lot in the weeks to come and it felt wrong to leave with just a casual word of goodbye. Viktor’s arms slid around his waist and Yuuri could feel him smiling into Yuuri’s neck as they embraced.

“Goodbye Yuuri,” Viktor replied as they broke apart, a smile dancing across his lips again. “I’ll see you next term.”

Yuuri was about to turn and walk away when suddenly an outbreak of giggling behind him stopped him in his tracks. Curious, he turned around to see a group of students watching the two of them and whispering together. When he looked closer, he realised the students weren’t focused on him and Viktor but instead a point a few meters above their heads.

Yuuri couldn’t help the scarlet flush of embarrassment that crept into his face when he realised just what the students were staring at. A host of festive decorations were wrapped around the stone arch that he and Viktor were standing under, including a sprig of mistletoe that Yuuri could have sworn wasn’t there a few seconds ago. When he turned to Viktor, hoping to brush it off with a casual word or a joke before anything could become awkward between them, he saw the other man staring up at the mistletoe as well, an amused expression on his face.

“It’s probably just the students messing around,” Yuuri pointed out, clearing his throat and praying the words came out casual and unaffected. “We can just ignore it.”

“That’s true, but it is tradition,” Viktor countered, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he looked up at the mistletoe and back to Yuuri again, eyebrow raised.

Yuuri swallowed heavily, mouth feeling dry all of a sudden. He knew that Viktor was just teasing, he had no idea what his words actually meant to Yuuri. The mistletoe around the school was all fun and games, he had seen Chris tackle Viktor under some just a few days previously and plant a deliberately messy kiss on his cheek while his friend laughed. For all Viktor knew, this was exactly the same. He had no idea that Yuuri was kind of maybe completely and secretly in love with him and the thought of kissing Viktor in any capacity was making his heart skip several beats.  

Yuuri glanced up at the mistletoe again, mentally running through his options and trying not to let his internal crisis show on his face. He couldn’t refuse without looking highly suspicious and after nearly a year and a half of successfully hiding his feelings, he wasn’t going to risk it by letting Viktor see that what should be just a platonic, friendly thing meant far more to Yuuri than it was supposed to. He also couldn’t grab Viktor by the front of his robes and pull him down into a proper kiss, no matter what a certain traitorous part of his brain was telling him.

“For tradition then,” Yuuri replied and leaned in as casually as he could, pressing a quick kiss to Viktor’s cheek, just the lightest brush of skin on skin. Viktor’s eyes had fluttered closed as Yuuri leaned in but they opened again when Yuuri broke the contact, Viktor looking a little startled, as though he hadn’t actually expected Yuuri to take him up on the challenge.

It was only after he had done it that Yuuri realised it would probably have been safer to just have brushed Viktor’s words of with a joke or a light-hearted comment. But now it was already too late and turned away, praying that Viktor hadn’t noticed the way his pulse was hammering in his throat at the simple touch.

“Happy holidays Viktor,” he mumbled, clearing his throat and deciding that retreat was now definitely his best option. He had barely made it a few steps however before Viktor’s voice stopped him, calling out down the corridor from where Viktor was still standing motionless under the archway.

“Happy holidays Yuuri,” Viktor replied, voice soft. When Yuuri turned, there was a smile on his face, not his usual bright smile but something far softer and more private, shared just between the two of them.

Yuuri flashed a smile back, before quickly turning away and hurrying off down the corridor, leaving Viktor behind him. As soon as he was out of sight, he brought his hands up to his lips, brushing one finger lightly across them and remembering how Viktor’s skin had felt beneath his own. It had been stupid and impulsive but somehow, Yuuri couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Despite the embarrassment that he knew was still burning in his cheeks, under the soft touch of his finger, Yuuri could feel that he was smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I ended up caught up in other things and so writing this fic got delayed. But hopefully there won’t be another big wait again as this is going to be my main writing focus from now on. 
> 
> As usual, you can find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/) for more of my fic things and thank you for reading! I'd love to hear what you think :D
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, there has been some more incredible artwork made for this fic that I strongly suggest everyone checks out!
> 
> A beautiful comic of the end scene in chapter 1 by thwippersnapple  
> [here](https://thwippersnapple.tumblr.com/post/164778924852/tried-my-hand-at-making-a-manga-style-comic-for)
> 
> A stunning drawing of Viktor and Yuuri by amereslare  
> [here](http://amereslare.tumblr.com/post/164398254496/my-design-of-professor-katsuki-and-professor)
> 
> A fantastic comic of the end of chapter 2 by zepatvish  
> [here](https://zepatvish.tumblr.com/post/164296347511/falling-for-your-charms-chapter-2-there-was-a)
> 
> A variety of amazing drawings by sheltered-by-viktuuri  
> [here](https://sheltered-by-viktuuri.tumblr.com/post/163882612739/professor-viktor-nikiforov-head-of-hufflepuff)  
> [here](https://sheltered-by-viktuuri.tumblr.com/post/163996761009/come-on-yuuri-viktor-said-at-his-hesitation-as)  
> [here](https://sheltered-by-viktuuri.tumblr.com/post/164568680689/as-heads-of-house-i-imagine-sometimes-professor)
> 
> Two brilliant pictures of Phichit and Yuuri and Viktor by juunaardan  
> [here](https://juunaardan.tumblr.com/post/163866231637/kazliin-phichit-sketch-while-reading-the)  
> [here](https://juunaardan.tumblr.com/post/164216832122/kazliin-again-i-cant-help-it-here-is-another)
> 
>  
> 
> Two wonderful drawings of Viktor and Yuuri by einhornlace  
> [here](https://einhornlace.tumblr.com/post/164204134174/my-sketch-take-on-viktors-beautiful-veela-hair-on)  
> [here](https://einhornlace.tumblr.com/post/164399267724/glasses-you-made-sketch-life-so-difficult)
> 
> A hilarious picture of Yuuri and Yuri by thebarnowldrawsagain  
> [here](https://thebarnowldrawsagain.tumblr.com/post/164464148024/kazliin-heres-some-more-artwork-for-falling-for)
> 
> Some lovely designs of Viktor, Yuuri and Chris by nerdqueensblogbitches  
> [here](https://nerdqueensblogbitches.tumblr.com/post/164607294665/kazliin-s-hogwarts-au-thats-the-whole)


	4. January-March

Spending time with his family over the winter holidays was nice, but Yuuri still felt a certain sense of excitement to be returning to Hogwarts as the second term of the school year began.  He had thoroughly enjoyed his time living back at the onsen, seeing his family again after several months spent apart. Catching up with his friends, Minako his old mentor and Yuuko and Takeshi along with their three little girls, all of whom were already beginning to show the first signs of magic, much to their parents delight.

But no matter how much he had enjoyed himself, he had still found himself missing the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts life, along with all the people that now came with it. Phichit had texted him constantly and not a day went by without Viktor’s owl rapping at his window with a new letter but it hadn’t been the same.

When he finally returned to the castle, he fell back into the familiar routine easily. Very little had changed over the holiday season, although there was a slight tension in the air during some of the senior classes now, the prospect of exams hanging heavily over the older students.

The only other thing that seemed to have changed noticeably to Yuuri was Viktor. The change was subtle, gradual, but present all the same. Viktor had always been the type of person prone to physical affection but Yuuri could have sworn the casual touches had increased since the last term they had been together. Viktor’s hands were almost constantly on him now, resting on Yuuri’s shoulders or their fingers brushing together as they walked side by side, each little touch of skin on skin sending Yuuri’s heart racing.

It felt strangely normal, a natural intimacy that Yuuri was only so hyperaware of because of how much he was craving more. But he kept his mouth shut, not sure if Viktor was even doing it consciously or if it was just an extension of the comfortable friendship between them that had grown stronger with every month that they had spent together.

Instead he decided not to overthink things, instead simply allowing himself to enjoy his time with Viktor. Commiserating over marking essays in the teacher’s lounge, watching the latest quidditch match and seeing Viktor celebrate when Hufflepuff won, taking Makkachin for walks around the lake together or simply just hanging out in Viktor’s office, enjoying the company. Any time not spent with Viktor, Yuuri either spent working or with Phichit and before he knew it, January had flown by and February was upon them.

It was only once the decorations began to pop up all over the school again that Yuuri remembered just what February entailed. At the first sign of the garish pink hearts plastered across the walls he had to suppress a groan.

He had only participated in Valentines day once before, years ago back when he was still a student. It had been Yuuko’s idea, sighing over the pretty red roses that were the gift of choice that year and insisting that they each send one. Hers had been sent to Takeshi of course and she had received and identical one from him that same day.

Yuuri had agreed to participate too, although his had been sent anonymously, too shy to give it in person or even attach his name to the gift.  Yuuko had encouraged him enthusiastically but when the day came, he had seen Viktor walking down the hallway with a veritable mass of roses in his arms, Yuuri’s lost among the masses. Yuuri had known that Viktor was popular, had known that he would likely receive hundreds of gifts from his many admirers but it was still disheartening to see all the same and he had decided not to participate the next year, something that had continued until he had left the school.

This year, it seemed that some inventive teacher or student had decided that little flying lovehearts would be the new Valentines trend. Yuuri first saw a pair zooming over his head as his walked down to the Great Hall on the morning of the 14th, tiny wings beating like a hummingbirds to keep their oversized red bodies in the air.

A few meters in front of him was a group of students and one of the hearts took an unexpected downturn, divebombing one of the girls below as she squeaked in surprise. It came to hover just in front of her and when she reached out tentatively to touch it, it burst, sending a shower of smaller hearts raining down into her hands.

 _‘Your eyes are prettier than the sky and your laugh lights up the room,’_ the heart sang as it faded from existence, leaving the girl blushing from head to toe with her hands full of sweets, her friends oohing and awing around her.

It seemed a little extravagant for Yuuri’s taste, although the gift giving trends at the castle for Valentines day had occasionally been much more outrageous in years gone by.

The little gift hearts seemed to stay out of the Great Hall, probably on Celestino’s orders, but Yuuri saw a few more students being showered in hearts on his way to the first lesson of the day. When he finally arrived at his own classroom, he had to suppress a groan.

His own desk was littered with the charmed hearts, all hovering just a few centimetres above the wood and waiting for him. Something similar had happened the last year too, although there seemed to be a larger collection of gifts this time around. Sending joking confessions of love to teachers seemed to be a recent tradition at Hogwarts, considering how many of them he had unexpectedly received in the year before.

Knowing that it was all in good humour, Yuuri chose to ignore the little fluttering hearts for the time being, waiting for the student to finish filing into the classroom before beginning the lesson. His teaching was occasionally interrupted by the arrival of another heart but the lessons passed mainly uneventfully until the sound of the bell indicating the break finally sounded through the castle.

Once all the students were gone, Yuuri finally walked back over to his desk, hand accidentally brushing one of the fluttering hearts as he did so. It immediately exploded into a shower of hearts, along with a warbled message that had Yuuri flushing red from embarrassment and very glad that he hadn’t chosen to dispose of any of them while the students were still in the classroom.

Deciding it was best to get the whole thing over with quickly, he swiped his wand across the rest of the crowd of hearts, all of them bursting at once and sending floods smaller hearts scattering across his desk, all of the voices of their owners blending together into a cacophony of sound, each individual one lost to the din.

Yuuri just sighed, looking at the mess they had made. Valentine’s day definitely wasn’t his favourite time of the year, that was for sure.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Once Valentine’s day was over and done with, everyone at school began to look forward to the next quidditch matches of the season, the sport a good distraction from the fast approaching end of year exams. With Slytherin and Hufflepuff both sitting on one win each, Yuuri and Viktor had begun a constant good-natured teasing, both of them determined to see their team to victory. When Gryffindor won their second game however, JJ crowing about it in lessons incessantly until Yuuri was almost tempted to ban the subject all together, they had both agreed that whoever won, it would be a success as long as it wasn’t Gryffindor. 

That did little to calm their competitive spirit however which was how Yuuri found himself wandering through the corridors one day, caught up in the middle of another friendly argument.

“My team works stronger as a unit,” Viktor insisted, jabbing his hand into the air to emphasis his point. “The Slytherin players are good individually but we have more team spirit.”

“That’s rich, coming from the person who used to end Quidditch games before his team even really had a chance to play,” Yuuri shot back, without thinking.

“I just mean, you used to win the games so fast your team barely had time to play,” he quickly corrected himself, hoping he hadn’t caused any offence. Viktor on the other hand, looked almost delighted at the statement.

“Wait, Yuuri, are you saying you saw me play when we were in school together?” he asked, voice full of excitement.

Yuuri had to force himself not to blush. The subject had never really come up and he definitely wasn’t ready to admit to Viktor that it was him who had inspired Yuuri to start playing in the first place. That Yuuri had tried every year to make the Slytherin team to play against Viktor on the pitch someday but that his nerves had won out time and time again until Viktor had already left the school. Of how he had cheered for Viktor every game he had watched, despite the dirty looks he had gotten for applauding for the completely wrong house.

“Uh…yes?” he replied and watched as Viktor’s face broke into a smile.

“Wow!” Viktor beamed. “I wish I could have watched you play too Yuuri. I heard about you when I first came back to the school and you can hardly lecture me about ending a game early, considering your school record.”

Yuuri glanced briefly away, feeling heat spread through his cheeks and trying to hide his secret pleasure at the statement. His own record for the fastest snitch catch was nothing compared to Viktor’s streak of the longest number of consecutive wins in Hogwarts history, but it still sent a little shiver of happiness through him at the way Viktor had spoken about Yuuri’s achievement with such enthusiasm.

“I just wish you could have been on the Slytherin team when I was still competing,” Viktor added almost dreamily. “I’m sure playing against you would have made for a very interesting match.”

Yuuri hummed absentmindedly, still slightly lost in the memories of the days gone by and how much his younger self would have been freaking out had he known one day, Viktor Nikiforov would be interested in playing quidditch with him.

“It still could be, you know?” Viktor added and Yuuri was jolted out of his daydream, turning to look at Viktor in surprise.

“Could what?” he blurted out, watching as Viktor smiled, a familiar gleam in his eyes.

“We could still play against each other,” Viktor clarified and Yuuri could hear the excitement bubbling in his voice as he spoke.

“But we don’t have any teams to play with,” Yuuri pointed out, feeling his heard leap at Viktor’s words even as logic won out.

“We’re both seekers aren’t we,” Viktor insisted, not deterred in the slightest. “We can play against each other, just you and me.”

He must have seen the considering look on Yuuri’s face, his competitive streak rising at the proposed challenge because he just grinned all the wider.

“Come on Professor Katsuki,” Viktor teased and even though the title was said in jest, Yuuri couldn’t help the heat that curled in his gut at the words and the challenge in Viktor’s eyes. “Let’s see who’s really the best seeker out of the two of us.”

“You’re on,” Yuuri agreed, allowing a thrill of excitement rush through him as he did so. Playing against Viktor had been his childhood dream. He almost couldn’t believe that now it was going to become a reality.

“Loser buys the winner drinks at the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade trip?” Viktor asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly.

“I hope you’re ready to pay,” Yuuri agreed with a smile.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

That was how Yuuri found himself standing on the quidditch pitch as the evening began to creep in, the chill in the air making him shiver even though the thickness of his flying robes. Part of him still missed the familiar Slytherin green quidditch robes that he had used to wear back in school but they had long since grown too small for him. Instead, Minako had gifted him with a set of elegant black and blue flying robes on his twenty-first birthday, insisting that blue had always been his colour. The robes had a silver trim and were much more extravagant than anything he would have bought himself but they were extremely warm, something he was grateful for in the cool of the evening.

“Yuuri!” he heard from across the field and he turned around, seeing Viktor waving at him as he walked onto the field, broomstick in hand.

Yuuri’s mouth went a little dry at the sight. Viktor’s hair was knotted up elegantly around the back of his head, a few strands loose and framing his face. He was dressed in flying robes too, a dark shade of pink and black with golden highlights that flashed in the evening light, fingerless flying gloves to match Yuuri’s own wrapped around his fingers. Yuuri had always had a weakness for Viktor in flying gear and it seemed that that wasn’t something that had faded with time.

“Are you ready?” Viktor asked as he approached, the light challenge still very present in his voice as he grinned at Yuuri.

“Are you ready to lose?” Yuuri shot back in response and Viktor laughed.

“We’ll see,” he replied, before reaching into the pocket of his robes to draw out a tiny golden ball, its wings fluttering weakly in his grip.

“First one to the snitch wins?” Viktor asked and Yuuri nodded, swinging on leg over his broom and preparing to kick off, eyes fixed on the snitch still clutched in Viktor’s hand.

Viktor let his fingers uncurl and they both watched as the tiny golden ball took flight, flitting away from them faster than the eye could see. The dim light of the evening made it even harder to follow and soon it was lost amongst the vastness of the stadium. Yuuri didn’t mind, it only made the game more of a challenge.

“On three?” Viktor asked and Yuuri nodded, waiting for the other man to count down before kicking off and feeling his stomach swoop as he soared up into the air.

There was always a particular thrill that came with flying, something that no other sport - expect maybe skating - could ever replace. Briefly, Yuuri closed his eyes, allowing himself to revel in the feeling of the wind racing through his hair as he rose further and further from the ground.

Finally he came to a halt, opening his eyes to see Viktor hovering just a few meters from him, looking equally exhilarated. Flashing Yuuri a quick wink he spun away, swooping into a dive to scan across the lower levels of the stadium. In response, Yuuri turned his broom upwards, soaring right to the top of the stands and gazing down at the pitch below him.

The wind stung his eyes and he temporarily regretted taking his glasses off for the match, the temporary spell on his eyes enhancing his vision but doing nothing to protect his eyes from the wind. It had become a habit however, after his original team captain had taken him aside and recommended losing the glasses while playing until he wanted them smashed or lost forever.

His eyes quickly became used to the wind however and for a few minutes, he and Viktor simply scanned the field, the game feeling strange without the rush and roar of the other players and the crowd beneath him. Playing seeker often involved a lot of searching and waiting around followed by sudden bursts of activity and without the distraction of the other players, Yuuri found himself focusing on Viktor far more.

Viktor seemed to be watching him too and after a while he flashed Yuuri a grin before performing a flashy loop in the air, the challenge clear in his gaze. Yuuri responded with a quick barrel roll, determined to show Viktor that he wasn’t the only one who could perform some fancy moves. Within a few minutes they were both distracted from the game, swooping and rolling about the field, smiling all the while.

As they flew, Yuuri noticed that a few students had begun to gather in the stands, clearly drawn by the sight of two players on the pitch. It wasn’t unusual for people to watch a practice so he ignored the steady trickle, instead focusing on his own flying. Occasionally he broke away from Viktor, sure that he had caught sight of the snitch but each time, it proved to be nothing.

He and Viktor continued to fly around each other, circling and dodging in an unspoken challenge as the minutes ticked on. Viktor laughed brightly as Yuuri pulled off a particularly daring move but his laughter was cut short, eyes snapping away from Yuuri to a point just behind his ear. Yuuri whipped his head around just in time to see a flash of gold in the corner of his eye before Viktor was already diving, all humour forgotten as his seeker instinct took over.

Viktor might have seen the snitch first but Yuuri was closer and he wrenched his broom around, plunging into a nose dive beside Viktor, determined to reach it first. The wind whipped though his hair and he narrowed his eyes, focused on nothing but his goal. Viktor was right beside him, their brooms parallel and their bodies pressed close as they both continued the chase.

The ground was growing rapidly nearer but Yuuri refused to be the first to pull up. The snitch was still just in front of him, glimmering slightly out of reach and he stretched his arm out, determined to close the last few inches to victory. Viktor seemed to have the same idea because he reached out too, fingers reaching for the snitch as the ground drew rapidly closer.

Knowing that he was out of time, Yuuri threw himself the last few inches forward on his broom, hand closing around the golden ball just as Viktor’s did the same. Their fingers tangled together, Viktor’s on top of Yuuri’s own, both grasping the snitch for dear life. Yuuri had no time to think about it however, their dive putting them dangerously close to the ground and he yanked his broomstick up, feeling Viktor do the same thing next to him.

The sudden change in momentum, along with his refusal to let go of the snitch that Viktor was still also grasping, threw him off balance, the bristles of his broomstick brushing the ground with only a few centimetres to spare. Yuuri tried to stay on but the sudden lurching pushing him sideways, tipping off the side of his broom as Viktor was pulled with him, both of their hands still locked around the snitch.

Yuuri hit the ground with a thud, feeling as all the breath was knocked out of him as he and Viktor rolled over in a heap together, neither willing to let go of their prize. He heard Viktor let out a grunt of pain as Yuuri landed on top of him, both of them finally coming to a rest in the dust of the stadium, panting for breath and both still clutching hold of the snitch.

Viktor’s fingers were warm around his and Yuuri could feel the frantic fluttering of the snitch between them, wings racing along with the pounding of his heart. Glancing down, he saw Viktor beneath him, both of them lying in a tangled heap where they had fallen as they tried to catch their breath.

Viktor stared up at him, hair dishevelled and yet still looking as unfairly attractive as ever. Yuuri could feel the way Viktor’s breath was heaving in his chest but when he caught Yuuri’s eye, it wasn’t fatigue that was showing on his face. Instead, his eyes seemed to be fixed on Yuuri and Yuuri felt his breath hitch under the intensity of the gaze.

There was a strange feeling in the air around him, something almost magnetic and he leaned down on instinct, drawn closer without quite knowing why. Viktor’s eyes were still fixed on his face and there was a small smile dancing across his lips as Yuuri moved closer.

A sudden loud yell echoed from the stadium around them, startling Yuuri out of his trance. He looked up sharply, eyes widen as he did so. The last time he had looked at the stands, there had been a few students gathering there. Now however, it looked like half the school had arrived, filling up the stadiums with all eyes fixed on them.

The sudden reality of their situation hit Yuuri and he jumped up, feeling his face flushed red in embarrassment as he did so. He knew what an undignified picture he and Viktor must have made, lying sprawled in the dirt together after pulling off such a risky and reckless move, both too stubborn to pull up before they crashed and leave the other victory.  

“I’m so sorry,” he rushed to say, scrambling off Viktor and reaching down to pull him to his feet. He still remembered the pained sound that Viktor had made when Yuuri had landed so ungracefully on top of him and could see the slight hunch in Viktor’s posture as the bruises on his stomach made themselves known.

Viktor just waved the apology away, still smiling at Yuuri but shooting irritated looks at the students filling the stands around them. Yuuri ducked his head down, all too aware of the many eyes on them and trying to look as dignified as he could while trying to shake the dust out of his robes.

“Let’s call this one a tie,” Viktor offered, reaching out to Yuuri, the little gold ball still resting in his hand. Yuuri took it, hyper aware of how his fingers brushed Viktor’s as he did so.

Their brooms were hovering a few meters away, looking almost sheepish, and they both grabbed them before making their way off the pitch, the chatter of the students in the stands fading away behind them.

“That was an amazing match Yuuri,” Viktor added as they walked together back to the castle, pulling off one of his gloves and trying to tame the locks of hair that were now falling in his face, hairstyle ruin by the fall. “You really are something special.”

“You are too,” Yuuri agreed, thinking of the lightning fast reaction Viktor has shown when he had first seen the snitch as his determination that rivalled Yuuri’s own. Viktor really was a spectacular player and Yuuri felt honoured to have gone up against him. “We should fly together again sometime.”

“I’d love that,” Viktor agreed, reaching over to where Yuuri was still trying to remove the dirt of the pitch from himself and brushing some of the dust out of his hair.

They split up briefly to shower and change out of their sweaty flying robes before meeting back up again in Viktor’s office. When they did, Viktor insisted on going through every inch of their game, full of nothing but praises for Yuuri’s flying. Yuuri returned the compliments with complete sincerity, trying to hide the fluttering of his heart at Viktor’s words all the while. Eventually, their talk moved on from the game they had just played to games in the past, particularly difficult or daring moments, joyful victories or harsh losses.

Viktor was a wonderful storyteller, keeping Yuuri hanging onto his every word as he relieved matches that Yuuri remembered from their school days, bringing each one to life again with his words. Eventually however, Yuuri began to grow tired, the long day of teaching and subsequent intense match finally catching up to him. The chairs in Viktor’s rooms were unfairly comfortable and he found himself drifting off to sleep, lulled by the sound of Viktor’s voice and the soft crackling of the fire.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Thankfully, the next morning, no-one seemed inclined to bring up his and Viktor’s impromptu quidditch match, something which Yuuri was grateful for. Phichit had already teased him enough about it that morning as it was and he hardly needed any more.

Aside from the embarrassment over the undignified crash, Yuuri still wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling, or quite what to make of the brief moment before the crowds had jolted him back into awareness, when he and Viktor were lying tangled on the pitch together and Viktor was looking up at him like he was the only person in the whole world.  

Something had been growing between them in the passing months, something Yuuri wasn’t quite sure was just friendship anymore. It had grown with every touch, every smile and every laugh, something different that seemed to be reserved just for Yuuri. Viktor was physically affectionate with all his friends but there was a now draw that seemed to pull them together, Viktor rarely leaving his side. They were friends it was true, closer than Yuuri had ever dreamed of but in the moment when they had been lying together, there had been a spark. A spark of something _more_.

Despite almost making it the whole day without anyone mentioning what had happened the evening before, that streak was finally broken during his final lesson of the day. There had been plenty of whispering going on between his students during the course of the lesson but when Yuuri brought the class to a close, one of the boys in the front row finally piped up.

“Sir, you and Professor Nikiforov seem to be spending a lot of time together lately,” he asked, voice innocent but eyes anything but.

“Of course we do, we’re friends,” Yuuri replied, as nonchalantly as he could. It wasn’t a lie, he and Viktor were friends first. The rest was still uncertain, for the moment anyway. And regardless, it wasn’t something he intended to talk about to his students, now or ever. That was a conversation reserved solely for Phichit and a lot of firewhiskey.

“ _’Friends’_ ,” another student muttered from the back of the classroom, to a host of hushed giggles. "Is that what we’re calling it now?"

Yuuri pretended not to hear them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/) for more YOI and fic writing <3


	5. March-May

After such an exciting match of Quidditch against Viktor, Yuuri was eager to play again as soon as possible. However much to his dismay, the unfortunate reality of the rapidly looming end of term exams insisted on getting in the way instead.

After their match, they had both honoured the agreement of the loser owing the winner a round of drinks in the Three Broomsticks, although Yuuri felt the need to point out that since they had technically tied, Viktor owed him nothing. That did nothing to deter the other man however and so they settled for buying a round each, sequestering themselves in a private corner of the popular pub while they drank to enthusiastically discuss their game again and renew their promise to play again sometime.

However, finding the time for another match proved to be a challenge as life at the school became rapidly more hectic. With only a few more months to go until exams, the students were working harder than ever. Instead of playing friendly games of Quidditch, Yuuri found himself spending most of his nights locked up in the teacher’s lounge with Phichit or Viktor or occasionally Chris, endlessly marking essays and practice tests as his students prepared. The previous year, Yuuri’s students had performed well but now that he was a fully-fledged teacher who would be judged on the results his students achieved, he felt the pressure of exams more keenly than ever.

Not only were both he and Viktor being kept busy through the inevitable exam time preparations, playing another friendly match against each other had also had to be put on hold due to the complete unavailability of the school’s pitches. Every time slot available had been booked up by house teams, all preparing frantically for the final two matches of the season. When it wasn’t JJ Leroy swooping around the pitch and boasting about how good the Quidditch Cup would look in Gryffindor’s hands for another year running, it was Otabek Altin meticulously practicing drills with his team-mates over and over again with a look of determination on his face, or Yuri Plisetsky growling and snapping at everyone on the pitch as he practiced fiercely with his team.

Even though they were unable to play themselves, as the students prepared for the final Quidditch games of the season, the friendly rivalry that existed between him and Viktor over their respective house teams grew with it. They tossed endless comments back and forth, light challenges and friendly jabs as they both grew more and more excited for their teams to finally go head to head.

As the weeks flew by, the long awaited Slytherin vs Hufflepuff game approached and Yuuri could feel his excitement mounting. Last year his team had come in third, dropping behind both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, and he was determined not to see that happen again. Viktor’s constant teasing and lightheaded challenging remarks had only fuelled his desire to see his team victorious.

When the day of the game finally arrived, Yuuri found himself sitting with Viktor in the stands, buzzing with anticipation. He had overseen a few of the Slytherin practices and he knew how good they were as a team, how hard they had trained when aiming for victory. But equally, he had seen first hand how determined Viktor’s own house team were and the game ahead was sure to be an eventful one.

“I’ll bet you five galleons that Hufflepuff wins,” Viktor called to him with a wink, leaning across his seat towards Yuuri to be heard over the roar of the excited crowds.

“Deal,” Yuuri agreed immediately, refusing to back down from the challenge. Even though he didn’t officially play anymore, watching his house team brought him back to the terror and thrill of the games during his own school years and he knew that Viktor felt the same. Now that they were both relegated to watching from the side-lines, adding an element of risk via bets only made the games more fun to watch.

The noise of the crowd suddenly increased, students cheering and shouting from all sides, and Yuuri peered down at the pitch to see the two teams finally taking to the field. On one side was the familiar green of his own house’s robes, Yuri Plisetsky’s blond hair standing out as he strode out onto the pitch at the front of his team, almost a head shorter than the rest. On the other, the bright yellow of the Hufflepuff team shone under the sun, Otabek Altin’s face set in a steely mask of determination as he lead the team out onto the field.

Beside him, Viktor let out an excited cheer of support, grinning down at his house team with his eyes glinting in anticipation. The two opposing sides met in the middle of the pitch, lining up of face their opponents and mounting their brooms, tensing in wait for the starting whistle. Peering down through his glasses, Yuuri could just about make out Otabek flashing Yuri a quick thumbs up from where they were facing each other, a gesture that was swiftly returned. Then the whistle blew, the sharp sound cutting through the din and the players kicked off, soaring up into the sky as the game began.

Yuuri watched the skies intently as the players dipped and wove around each other, the Quaffle passing from one hand to another almost too fast to keep track of. Hufflepuff scored first, something that sent Viktor into another bout of excited cheering which was swiftly cut off when Slytherin snatched the ball and scored mere minutes after. Yuuri grinned at him smugly, watching as Viktor rolled his eyes at Yuuri’s expression with exasperated fondness.

After that, they play bounced back and fourth between the two teams, Hufflepuff eventually edging fractionally ahead but with Slytherin hot on their heels as the points racked up. Yuuri kept his eyes mainly fixed on the two seekers as the game progressed. With a match this close, whoever caught the snitch first would push their team to victory and they both knew it. Yuri and Otabek were watching each other closely, ducking and blocking each other whenever the snitch was sighted to the cheers and groans of the crowds below them.

Each time, the little golden ball zipped away and disappeared before a catch could be made but Yuuri knew it wouldn’t last forever. Sure enough, barely an hour into the match there was a collective intake of breath from the crowds as the two seekers dived together, a glint of gold flashing in front of them as the snitch was sighted again.

Yuuri’s breath caught in his chest, every muscle thrumming with anticipation as he watched the scene play out before him. The two seekers were almost evenly matched, both weaving in between the other players with skill as they pursued the snitch but at the last minute, Yuri pulled slightly ahead, executing a complex looking roll as he dived between two chasers and emerged triumphant with the snitch clutched in his grip.

The half of the crowd decked in green burst into cheers and applause while the others let out groans of defeat as the final whistle blew, signalling the game’s end. Yuuri jumped to his feet to join in the cheering, feeling his face split open into a smile as he watched the Slytherin team glide back down to stand on the pitch again. Yuri was still clutching the snitch in his hand, a proud look on his face as he stared down at the little golden ball held tightly between his fingers.

Otabek landed next to him and Yuuri saw his mouth move, presumably saying some form of congratulation although nothing could be heard over the noise of the crowd. At the show of sportsmanship between teams and friends he turned back to Viktor, intending to congratulate him and his house on a game well played.

Viktor had joined in the applause for the winning team, looking a little disappointed but still smiling all the same.

“Well done,” he offered as he stood up next to Yuuri, offering out his hand for a congratulatory shake. “Your house played a good game.”

“Yours too,” Yuuri offered, taking the hand.

“Now you just have to make sure you beat Gryffindor in the final match,” Viktor added, eyes sparkling as he dropped the formality and pulled Yuuri in a little closer. “I can stand losing to you Yuuri but if your house lets Gryffindor win again I’ll never forgive you.”

Yuuri laughed at that, allowing his hand to drop as he and Viktor began to edge their way out of the stands.

“We’ll try,” he promised as they headed back towards the castle side by side.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Viktor didn’t seem too upset over his house losing,” Phichit commented later that night, kicking his feet up onto his desk as he and Yuuri sat in his office together.

Yuuri hummed in agreement, thinking back to the way Viktor had enthusiastically discussed the game with him all the way back to the castle, pointing out the highlights and analysing the players techniques. He had been disappointed to see his team lose to be sure but he had already expressed his enthusiasm for watching Slytherin win in the final match of the season against Gryffindor. Before the match had even begun hey had already agreed together that it didn’t really matter whose team won in the end, as long as one of theirs did.

“Although I still think most of the school was more interested in the match you played against him than the house cup this year,” Phichit added with a smirk as Yuuri groaned and shot him an exasperated look. He had enjoyed flying against Viktor but had less enjoyed the fact that half the school had ended up watching it, something that Phichit refused to let him live down.

“You’ll just have to make sure your next game is more private,” Phichit added, the note of teasing still clear in his voice as he looked at Yuuri slyly. “You could even ride his broomstick instead next time, just to make things a little more interesting.”

“ _Phichit!_ ” Yuuri exclaimed, shooting a look of deepest betrayal over to his friend.

“Ok, ok, I’ll stop,” Phichit said with a laugh, although he didn’t look remorseful in the slightest. “But seriously Yuuri, when are you going to make a move on him?”

When Yuuri didn’t answer Phichit rolled his eyes, reaching over to poke Yuuri’s side with his finger as he spoke again.

“Come on Yuuri, Viktor is into you. He’s _really_ into you. Even you’ve noticed it by now and there’s no way you can keep going with that ‘just friends’ nonsense anymore because we all know it’s not true.”

“I know,” Yuuri sighed, glancing downwards to avoid his friend’s eye as he tried to gather his thoughts.

It was true, he could no longer deny that there was something more going on between he and Viktor now. It had happened slowly, both of them gradually tipping from close friends into something _more_ as the year had gone on, little by little, word by word and touch by touch. Initially, Yuuri had written it off as nothing, had thought his feelings one-sided and vowed to keep them hidden for the sake of maintaining their friendship. But the longer it had gone on and the more obvious it had become, the less he could deny the truth of it anymore.

And after the Quidditch match they had played together, after seeing the way that Viktor looked at him and the _want_ that had sparked through his own chest at the sight, Yuuri had known that ‘just friends’ didn’t even begin to describe them anymore. In the weeks after, Viktor had been closer than ever, laughing brightly and teasing softly and staying close to Yuuri’s side. Brushing light touches over his shoulders and his hand and spending all the time together that they could spare.

They were standing at a tipping point, balancing on a razor thin wire with what they had been on one side and what Yuuri had secretly wanted for years on the other. But Yuuri still wasn’t quite sure how to push them over that one final edge, or what would happen if he did.

“Please Yuuri, if you’re going to do something then do it soon,” Phichit added, shuffling his chair closer and nudging Yuuri’s shoulder gently. “For all our sakes. I don’t think the school will survive if you don’t and I know plenty of students stand to make good money in bets if you and Viktor get together before summer starts.”

“What do you mean _bets,”_ Yuuri spluttered, jerking around at the words and ignoring the first part of Phichit’s words in favour of focusing on the second. He had known that he and Viktor hadn’t perhaps been as subtle as they could have been but he had thought he had at least managed to conceal his feelings marginally better than that.

“Please Yuuri, you’ve got to know that more than half the school have money riding on when and how you and Viktor are going to get together,” Phichit told him, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

Sighing deeply, Yuuri figured he should have known that something like that was going to happen eventually. No matter how secret his feelings were supposed to be, nothing at Hogwarts stayed a secrete for long. It didn’t do anything to lessen the burning heat in his cheeks though.

“Just think about it,” Phichit added, voice suddenly soothing as he patted Yuuri’s arm in sympathy. “You like him, he clearly likes you and you might as well finally do something about it. You’ve waited long enough after all.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The final Quidditch match of the season was scheduled for the second last week of May and the excitement was tangible in the air all around the castle as it approached. With both teams sitting on two wins each and a roughly equal numbers of points, the final match would decide who would be taking home the gold, Gryffindor or Slytherin. JJ had been quick to remind everyone who would listen about how long of a winning streak his team would create if they took home the trophy for another year running and Mila, the Slytherin captain, had been training her team at every free moment available, determined not to lose at the last hurdle.  

The only person more motivated than her was Yuri. The teenager’s distaste for JJ was common knowledge and Yuuri knew that Yuri wouldn’t be able to stand another loss to the older boy. The two seekers often went head to head in less than friendly matches and with JJ graduating at the end of the year, it was clear Yuri was not willing to waste his last chance to beat the other boy.

When the day of the match finally dawned, Yuuri couldn’t help the twinge of apprehension in his gut. No matter how far his own days of playing for the school team were behind him, he still desperately wanted to see his house team win. House pride never really died, not even after the students had left the school for good.

After breakfast, he and Phichit made their way down to the stadium together, clambering up into the teacher’s stands and walking over to where Viktor and Chris were already sitting.

“Are you ready?” Viktor asked him as soon as he sat down, anticipation clear in his voice. His own team might be out of the running but nothing stopped Viktor from enjoying a good game.

Yuuri nodded, feeling a similar thrill of anticipation run through him. The atmosphere in the stands was electric, every student and teacher waiting with baited breath for the final game to begin.

“Slytherin better win this one Yuuri,” Viktor added, nudging Yuuri gently with his shoulder where they were pressed close together. “If my team can’t take home the trophy then yours should.”

Viktor smiled at him and Yuuri could feel his heart flutter at the sight, something that never failed to send a rush of affection through him no matter how many times he saw Viktor do it. He opened his mouth to reply but before he could, the sharp note of the referee whistle rang out through the stadium, signalling the beginning of the match.

Both the teams kicked off, soaring up into the sky as the game began.

By the time the second hour had passed, Yuuri’s throat felt raw from cheering, eyes fixed on the game as the Quaffle flashed from one player to the next. Viktor had been shouting and clapping alongside him, encouraging Slytherin on, but the game was tight and it could still go either way.

All the players were beginning to tire after so long in the air and mistakes began to be made. One of the Slytherin chasers dropped the Quaffle after fumbling a catch, the goal only prevented by Mila’s quick interception at the goalposts. The Gryffindor keeper only narrowly dodged out of the way of a well-aimed bludger, almost falling from his broom as he did so. The longer the game dragged on, the more mistakes would be made, Yuuri knew. Everyone was relying on one of the two seekers to catch the snitch and end the match, their scores close enough that the win would be guaranteed to whoever ended it.

Up at the top of the pitch, Yuuri could see that Yuri seemed to be tiring too, his posture slumped low on his broom as he circled the field, looking for the snitch. JJ sailed past him, the words he shouted lost to the wind but whatever he had said caused Yuri to snap back up in anger, hurling what was clearly an insult at the other seeker as he darted past.

Yuuri bit his lip, nails digging into Viktor’s palm on the arm of their seats where their hands were resting together. Yuri was a good player but he angered too easily and it was a distraction they couldn’t afford, not when so close to victory.

A frustrated groan rose up from the Gryffindor side of the stands as one of the Slytherin chasers slipped the Quaffle past their keeper’s defence and scored another goal, distracting Yuuri from the seekers temporarily as he clapped along with the crowd. But his attention soon snapped back at the sound of Viktor’s gasp, following his gaze back to where the two seekers were flying.

Both Yuri and JJ had dropped considerably in height, no longer hovering above the other players but skimming low across the field, toes almost brushing the grass as they flew neck and neck. Both of their hands were outstretched and as he squinted, Yuuri could just make out the fluttering golden ball ahead of them, mere centimetres away from their grasping fingers.

It had happened so fast that he had almost missed it but quickly the rest of the spectators heads had snapped around to the two seekers too, cheering and chanting their names as they both hurtled towards the snitch and victory.

Yuuri’s heart was racing in his chest and he leaned forwards over the edge of the stands, fingers tightening into a white knuckled grip as he watched the final few seconds play out.

It was over before he could blink. Both the seekers lunged at the same time, a tangle of green and red that split apart again to reveal JJ’s hand, outstretched and empty. At the same time, Yuri pulled away, fist cradled to his chest as the stands burst into thunderous applause. A tiny flutter of gold was clasped between his fingers as he stumbled off his broom and onto the ground below him.

Yuuri jumped up, a noise of victory on his lips as the rest of the Slytherin team came in to land, all crowding around their youngest player. The rest of the teachers were on their feet too, all applauding the victorious team and Yuuri couldn’t help but beam in pride, happiness flooding through him at the sight.

“They did it!” Viktor beamed from beside him as Yuuri spun around, unable to contain his grin. “Yuuri, you won!”

Elation was still flooding through Yuuri, pride in his house and joy for their win mixing with the racing of his heart as he looked at Viktor smiling at him, eyes fixed on nothing and no-one but Yuuri. Every emotion was tangled in his chest, threatening to burst out of him, unable to be contained.

Yuuri didn’t think. Instead he reached out on instinct, grabbing Viktor by the front of his robes and pulling him in for a crushing kiss, still riding high with his head spinning from the rush of victory.

It took Yuuri a full ten seconds to realise the noise from the stands had abruptly died down, the stadium suddenly so quiet he could have heard a pin drop. Hastily he broke away from Viktor, feeling the sudden weight of what he had just done crashing down onto his chest.

Viktor looked slightly dazed, staring at Yuuri with a wide-eyed expression on his face as Yuuri let him go. Then his face split into the largest smile that Yuuri had ever seen, dazzling in its intensity.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to do that,” Viktor exclaimed, before reaching out and pulling Yuuri into a kiss again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/) for more YOI and fic writing <3
> 
> And check out these beautiful pieces of art by [ jelly-guiro ](http://jelly-guiro.tumblr.com/post/167687602844/so-i-started-this-version-of-the-end-part-of-ther) and [ sheltered-by-viktuuri ](https://sheltered-by-viktuuri.tumblr.com/post/166405739184/for-tradition-then-sure-yuuri-from) that have been drawn for this fic!


	6. May-June

Viktor was still laughing as he pulled Yuuri into his office and shut the door behind them. The memory of the stunned faces of everyone in the stadium was still clear in both of their minds and Yuuri couldn’t help but snort out another bout of laughter as well. In any other circumstances he would be embarrassed, but he was still riding high on the memory of Viktor’s lips pressed against his.

“Finally, we’re alone,” Viktor murmured, twining his fingers with Yuuri’s own and gently pulling them closer together. Yuuri went willingly, stretching up slightly onto his toes to bring his face closer to Viktor’s. Viktor’s eyes were fixed on his lips and Yuuri let himself smile again as Viktor dipped his head down to capture Yuuri’s mouth with his own.

It was softer than their first kiss, and a little more hesitant. Without the surge of adrenaline spiking through their veins like there had been before, Yuuri could feel Viktor taking his time with the kiss. Exploring Yuuri’s mouth, tugging lightly on his lips, finding just the right way to make Yuuri melt into his touch.

One of Viktor’s hands slid up to cup Yuuri’s cheek, rubbing soft circles into the skin there as they continued to kiss. When they finally broke apart, Viktor ran his thumb over Yuuri’s kiss-bitten lips, still staring down at him with a mixture of awe and joy written clearly across his face.

“I’ve been wanting to do that ever since the Yule Ball,” Viktor confessed, voice hushed and reverent as he leaned down for another kiss.

“Wait, the Yule Ball?” Yuuri blurted out, stopping Viktor in his tracks. Much as he wanted to return to kissing, Viktor’s words had thrown him. The only contact that they had had during the Yule Ball in his first term of teaching was when he had bumped into Viktor and accidentally spilled his drink all down the front of the other man’s robes. There was hardly anything seductive about that. Certainly nothing that would make Viktor want to kiss him.

“…Yes?” Viktor replied, looking as confused as Yuuri felt.

“Viktor, what are you talking out? Why the Yule Ball?” Yuuri asked, still feeling completely lost. He was sure that he must be missing something, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what.

Viktor’s expression quickly morphed from confused to startled. Yuuri could almost see the cogs turning behind his eyes, as if he were trying to work out whether Yuuri was being serious or not. 

“Are you telling me that you don’t remember?” Viktor finally asked and Yuuri nodded helplessly. During the ball, he had made a fool out of himself in front of Viktor, then retreated into a corner in shame to drown his sorrows in firewhisky. The next morning, he had woken up with a headache and a fuzzy memory and decided to pretend the whole thing had never happened. There was nothing in his, admittedly poor, memory of the night that Viktor could possibly be referring to.

Viktor stared at him for another few seconds, then opened his mouth to speak, now looking determined.

“It all started when you spilled your drink on me that night,” he began and Yuuri braced himself for what was to come.

 

* * *

 

 

_“Enjoying the party?” Chris asked, sideling up to Viktor where he stood alone at the side of the dancefloor._

_Viktor just sighed, looking out at the heaving mass of students and teachers and wishing that he felt something other than boredom. The Great Hall was stunning, dripping in silver and crystals for the evening but the beauty of the sight did nothing to lift his spirits. When he had been at school, he had loved the Yule Ball. Now, everything just felt dull, as though the spark had gone out of the world._

_“It’s the same as always,” he shrugged to Chris, who looked at him with concern._

_“Why aren’t you out there dancing?” Chris asked, looking around as if to locate Viktor’s invisible dance partner. “Dancing always used to cheer you up. You didn’t come alone did you? Because I know for a fact there are several teachers here who would kill for you to sweep them off their feet.”_

_Viktor just shot his friend a look of mild exasperation._

_“You do realise that the last time someone tried to ask me out, they got tongue tied in the middle of a crowded corridor the minute I looked at them and just stared at me blankly until I walked away?” Viktor pointed out dryly._

_He would never be ashamed of what he was, but his Veela side did have some serious drawbacks sometimes. Back at school, he had enjoyed the admiration and adoration he had been showered with. But the more the years had gone on, the more of a hindrance it had become. People either just stared, a glazed over look in their eyes as they smiled dumbly at him, or leapt to cater to his every whim. Either way, there was nothing genuine about it. He couldn’t switch it off but nor did he want to spend time with people who seemed enchanted by what he was, not who._

_“What a terrible curse, to be too dazzling,” Chris said sarcastically, but at the look of Viktor’s face he dropped the joking attitude quickly._

_“All I want is someone…genuine,” Viktor tried to explain, struggling for a second to find the words. “Someone who doesn’t bend over backwards just to try and please me. Someone who I can actually have a conversation with. Someone who likes me for, well, me.”_

_“Viktor, you’re too hard on yourself,” Chris reached out and patted Viktor’s shoulder comfortingly. “There are plenty of people like that out there, you just haven’t found the right one yet. You never know, your true love might be just around the corner, ready to sweep you off your feet.”_

_Viktor just laughed a little wryly, shaking his head. He didn’t know what had brought about the thoughts that night, although it probably had something to do with the hoards of teenage couples surrounding him and reminding him of what it had once felt like to be young and in love. The very thought made him feel depressingly old._

_“Well, there’s only one solution to this,” Chris announced at Viktor’s still mournful expression. “The best part about chaperoning these events is the teachers get free booze, which we are about to take full advantage of.”_

_Grabbing Viktor’s hand, Chris pulled him towards the side of the hall where the drinks table was set out. Viktor had barely made it a few steps when there was a startled grunt of surprise, a dark-haired figure wandering straight into Viktor’s path and colliding with him forcefully._

_The drink the other man had been holding sloshed out of his hand, soaking the front of Viktor’s robes. The man’s eyes had been distracted as he walked, clearly not looking where he was going, but they snapped to Viktor in an instant. Viktor barely had time to register their pretty brown colour before the other man had ducked his head, cheeks flaming red with embarrassment._

_“I’m so sorry,” the dark-haired man gasped out, looking mortified. Viktor vaguely recognised him as one of the new teachers, although the name escaped him. Now, looking into the other teacher’s startled face, cheeks still rosy with embarrassment, Viktor wished he had paid closer attention._

_The man’s hands fretted at the liquid on Viktor’s robes, trying to prevent the stain from moving any further. He looked flustered, still not looking Viktor in the eye and Viktor took pity on him. With a flick of his wand, he banished the stain, returning his robes back to their pristine state._

_That seemed to do nothing but make the other teacher even more embarrassed, blurting out another ‘I’m so sorry,’ as he fussed over Viktor. Viktor just waved the apology away, hoping to put the other man at ease._

_“I never liked these robes much anyway,” he joked, hoping to alleviate some of the tension._

_It didn’t work._

_“I…uh…have to go,” the other teacher choked out, still looking mortified. Before Viktor could say another word, he had turned tail and hurried away without a backwards glance._

_“Who was that,” Viktor asked to Chris, watching the retreating figure curiously._

_“Seriously Viktor?” Chris rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you don’t know his name. He works with us! That’s worse than the time you called JJ Leroy ‘James Jack’ to his parent’s faces._

_“That was not my fault!” Viktor tried to protest, but one look at Chris’ face told him that no amount of excuses was ever going to save him from teasing over that particular situation._

_“In answer to your question,” Chris continued, breezing past Viktor’s protest. “That was Yuuri Katsuki. He’s the new transfiguration teacher. Celestino hired him straight out of training and I’ve heard he’s quite impressive. How have you not noticed him by now?”_

_“I’m noticing him now,” Viktor replied, eyes still fixed on the place where Yuuri Katsuki had disappeared into the crowds._

_Although he kept a curious eye out for Yuuri Katsuki after that, the other man seemed to have vanished as the ball progressed. Viktor and Chris spent the majority of their time wandering the hall, chiding underaged students away from the drinks table, making small talk with the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang heads and patrolling the gardens, determinedly ignoring the giggling and whispers coming from the various rosebushes that they passed._

_When they re-entered the Great Hall again after their fourth tour of the gardens, the party had livened up considerably. The rigid formal dancing had given way to lively chaos and the dance floor was packed. Even several teachers had joined in the fun._

_As Viktor walked further into the hall, he began to notice a space that had cleared near the edge of the dance floor. Students and a few teachers were milling around, moving to the beat of the music but not dancing. Instead their eyes seemed to be fixated on the sight before them. Viktor drew closer, peering through the crowds to get a good look at just what was so interesting in the centre of the loosely formed circle._

_He stopped dead when a flash of now familiar dark hair caught his eye. Yuuri Katsuki was moving fluidly in the centre of the circle, body swaying perfectly in time to the beat as he danced. His hair was dishevelled and his cheeks were flushed, a smile lingering on his lips as he danced. He seemed to be entirely lost to the music, drawing the attention of every eye around him with the grace with which he moved._

_“Well, that’s unexpected,” Viktor heard Chris say from beside him. He didn’t respond, still too focused on Yuuri to pay attention to anything that was going on around him._

_When Yuuri danced, it looked like he was making music with his body. Swaying the hearts of everyone around him as he moved to the beat._

_Yuuri turned, spinning gracefully on the spot, and his eyes locked with Viktor’s. In an instant, Yuuri broke out of his dance, stumbling his way across the distance between them. Up close, Viktor could see the slight sway to his body, the tell-tale signs of slightly too much to drink clear in his eyes._

_Yuuri regarded him for a second, then stumbled forward, straight into Viktor’s arms._

_“Dance with me,” Yuuri blurted out and Viktor felt his mind go blank._

_“What?” he asked stupidly, mind completely occupied with the smile on Yuuri’s lips and the heat of his body pressed close._

_“Dance with me Viktor,” Yuuri insisted._

_Viktor felt a sharp jab to his back, Chris’ hissed ‘go on’ ringing in his ears. Yuuri was still looking up at him expectantly, brown eyes wide and pleading._

_“Uh, of course,” Viktor tried to gather his thoughts together enough to form a full sentence. Everything felt flipped on its head all of a sudden. He was used to being the one to dazzle people into speechlessness but now Yuuri was here in his arms and he couldn’t think of a single thing to say._

_Yuuri’s smile was blinding and he pulled Viktor onto the dancefloor without a moment of hesitation. Viktor shot a glance over his shoulder and saw Chris flashing him a thumbs-up, grinning widely as he watched Viktor being dragged away._

_When they reached the centre of the dancefloor Yuuri stopped, holding out his hand for Viktor to take. Viktor placed his palm in Yuuri’s, still feeling a little dazed but with excitement building in him with every second._

_Yuuri took a step forwards, leading the way, and they began to dance._

_Dancing with Yuuri felt like a dream._

_Viktor was sure that hours must be passing but to him, it felt like seconds. Far too caught up in Yuuri and the way they moved together. Yuuri was an endless string of surprises, switching fluidly from once dance to the next and it was all Viktor could do just to keep up with him. Yuuri lead the way, spinning them together, and Viktor was happy to be taken along for the ride._

_Finally, after what must have been several hours, the party began to wind down. Numbers on the dancefloor began to dwindle as students and teachers broke off in twos or threes to seek out final refreshments, or simply the comfort of their beds. Viktor barely felt tired, heart still racing and feeling as if he could dance the night away. But eventually even he and Yuuri left the dancefloor, stumbling out into the gardens together with their arms wrapped around each other._

_“That was amazing” Viktor told Yuuri as they finally sunk down onto a stone bench in the centre of the garden, still feeling pleasantly out of breath. “You’re a fantastic dancer Yuuri.”_

_Yuuri ducked his head but Viktor could see the smile spreading across his face all the same._

_“Thank you,” Yuuri mumbled. “I’ve always wanted to dance with you.”_

_Viktor startled a little, feeling confusion spike through him. But before he could ask, Yuuri was already speaking again._

_“We went to school together,” Yuuri told him, voice slightly slurred as he spoke. “I used to cheer at all your Quidditch games. I thought you were amazing. I was too young to go to the Yule Ball the year that you were the school champion but secretly, I used to imagine that one day I would be going with you.”_

_It took Viktor a few seconds for the words to sink in but when they did, a pleasant warmth began to spread throughout his chest as he beamed at Yuuri._

_“Is that why you asked me to dance?” he asked and Yuuri nodded earnestly._

_“I really like you Viktor,” Yuuri mumbled, a blush creeping up his cheeks at the words and still slurring a little as he spoke. “I wanted to be your date. Will you be my date Viktor?”_

_“It might be a little too early for that,” Viktor laughed, feeling a rush of affection flow through him when Yuuri pouted adorably at his words. Yuuri had swept him off his feet that night but they had still only just met and from the way Yuuri was speaking, Viktor was beginning to suspect he had drunk a lot more alcohol than Viktor had previously assumed._

_“I like you too Yuuri,” Viktor assured, watching as Yuuri’s face lit up at the statement. “But I don’t want you to regret saying any of this tomorrow. So let’s start with getting to know each other first.”_

_Yuuri nodded, head bobbing up and down enthusiastically. Then, without warning, his face fell and he glanced away again._

_“But you might not want to get to know me tomorrow,” he mumbled, looking unexpectedly miserable. “You’re the best teacher in the whole school and I have no idea what I’m doing. Celestino must have made a mistake to hire me.”_

_“Yuuri, no!” Viktor reached out to take Yuuri’s hands in his, wanting to wipe the sadness off the other man’s face. “I’m sure that’s not true.”_

_When that did nothing to change Yuuri’s expression, Viktor pressed on._

_“I’ll make you a deal,” he offered. “I’ll show you the ropes of teaching here. Be your mentor of sorts, if you want. And in exchange, when you decide you want to have that date that you asked for, just let me know.”_

_“When you’re sober,” he added with a laugh when Yuuri opened his mouth to speak again. Yuuri closed it, looking a little affronted, but he nodded his agreement anyway._

_“I’m glad I met you Yuuri,” Viktor said, squeezing Yuuri’s hand lightly with his own. The whole evening had been a whirlwind and Viktor could hardly believe it had even happened. But Yuuri was sitting with him, warm by his side. Solid proof that it had all been real._

_Viktor couldn’t wait to get to know Yuuri. To talk to him, to find out more about him. To allow the warmth inside him that came whenever Yuuri smiled to grow and see where it lead. They could start with being friends first but Viktor already knew, deep in his heart, that if Yuuri wanted more, all he would have to do is ask._

_Viktor was already smitten._

* * *

 

 

“So you’re telling me you fell for me _last year_ and you never told me?” Yuuri asked, feeling thousands of emotions churning through him all at once. Joy, wonder, confusion, hysteria.

“I thought you remembered!” Viktor exclaimed, looking just as shocked as Yuuri felt. “You let me mentor you and you clearly liked me. I just didn’t want to rush you.”

“I didn’t even know,” Yuuri could hear the strain in his own voice, his whole world twisting around him. “I thought how I felt was a secret.”

Viktor shot him a disbelieving look.

“Well that explains a lot,” he allowed, looking like he was caught somewhere between laughing and crying. “You were perfect. You didn’t just do whatever I wanted or fawn over me or treat me differently. You were stubborn, you pushed for your own way. Sometimes you backed away instead of trailing around after me hopelessly. You argued with me over Quidditch and laughed with me about your day and whenever I made you blush, I knew that it was just me that caused it. Nothing else. But sometimes, you’d pull away or say something and I’d think I must have made a mistake and you just wanted to stay friends after all. And then you’d do something else that made me sure again that you felt the same way as I did. But I know that I can be a bit…much sometimes and I didn’t want to push you into something you weren’t ready for. I was happy to go at whatever pace you chose.”

“I feel like an idiot,” Yuuri groaned, burying his head in his hands and feeling heat radiating from his cheeks.

“So do I,” he heard Viktor sigh beside him.

A warm hand reached over to rest on Yuuri’s face, fingers tipping his chin up to face Viktor again.

“At least we both know now,” Viktor pointed out, a smile flitting across his lips as he bent down to press another light kiss to Yuuri’s mouth. Tangling his fingers in Viktor’s hair, Yuuri deepened the kiss, refusing to let go for several seconds. Nipping at Viktor’s lips and drawing a pleased sigh from Viktor’s throat.

When they finally broke apart, Yuuri could see the way Viktor’s pupils were blown wide and his pulse was jumping in his neck.

“If there’s anything else you need to tell me, you should probably do it now,” Viktor told him, voice sounding a little strained. “Because after that, I want to kiss you again and I’m not intending to stop for several hours. We have a lot of missed time to make up for after all.”

Yuuri hesitated for a second, contemplating whether it was worth saying anything more or simply letting Viktor kiss him into oblivion. But it had been a day of revelations and he figured that they might as well get all the embarrassing misunderstandings out of the way in one mortifying blow.

“Well,” he said hesitantly, watching as Viktor’s expression turned curious. “You know that story you told me months ago about a poodle you once met at Hogwarts…”

 

* * *

 

 

“So you’re telling me that essentially, Viktor was just waiting for Yuuri to make a move and thought the two of you were just taking it really slowly?” Phichit asked, the disbelief clear in his voice.

“Glacially slowly,” Chris sighed theatrically, slumping down into a chair at the table where they were all sitting. “I was about to lock the two of you in my potions cupboard together if you didn’t get a move on. Viktor’s pining was driving me up the wall.”

“And while Viktor was thinking that Yuuri remembered grinding on him during the ball and asking to date him,” Phichit continued, turning to Yuuri with a look in his eye that spoke of many nights of teasing yet to come. “Yuuri thought that his gigantic crush on Viktor was still a secret.”

“Please,” Chris snorted, looking amused. “Every single person in the school has known about it for months now. The betting pool was evenly split between you two getting together any day now or that you were both already dating in secret. Neither of you are subtle in the slightest. Especially when you take him on ice skating dates in full view of the castle and flirt with him in front of the students.”

The last part of the sentence was directed at Viktor, who was looking at Chris without a drop of regret.

“Well, thankfully you two are together now.” Phichit added, a wicked grin in his eyes. “Because it means that I can finally tell Viktor about all those times you used to doodle Yuuri Nikiforov all over your…”

The last part of the sentence was cut off as Yuuri lunged for him, clapping his hand over Phichit’s mouth. Viktor just looked delighted at the words.

“Yuuri, you didn’t?” he cooed as Yuuri fought the urge to bury his head into the wood of the table in shame.

Phichit just laughed, reaching for the bottle that was sitting on the table between them and pouring everyone another drink.

“A toast,” he proposed, reaching for his glass and waiting for the others to mimic the gesture. “To Viktor and Yuuri.”  

“To both of you finally getting it together and getting together,” Chris added, tapping his glass against Phichit’s.

“To us,” Viktor said, reaching out to wrap his arm around Yuuri and pulling him closer. Yuuri relaxed into the touch, raising his own glass.

“To us,” he echoed.

 

* * *

 

 

After that, everything seemed to settle back into a semblance of normality. In fact, Yuuri was surprised by how little actually changed. He and Viktor still sat together at breakfast and marked papers together in the teacher’s lounge. They still hung out in each other’s offices during their free time and Viktor still periodically dropped by his classes to interrupt the lessons. The only change was that now, as soon as the door to his office swung shut, Yuuri could reach up and pull Viktor into a kiss and feel nothing but blissful happiness.

Yuuri had also received congratulations from both teachers and students alike, much to his embarrassment. The most startling reaction however, and one that Viktor still liked to laugh about when they were alone together, had been from Yuri Plisetsky.

“I can’t believe you stole my moment!” he had raged at Yuuri, who could do nothing but blink at the fuming teenager in shock. “I won the Quidditch Cup and all anyone can talk about is you and the old man over there.”

At that he had glared furiously over at Viktor, who was watching the scene unfold with an amused expression on his face.

“You both better give me nothing but Outstandings in your classes forever for this,” Yuri had added, arms folded tightly across his chest as he scowled. With that, he turned to storm away, before turned back at the last minute.

“And you made me lose _five galleons,”_ he snapped, pointing a finger accusingly at Yuuri. “I bet on you two getting together on the last day of term. All you needed to do was wait a few more weeks and I would have been rich!”

With that, he marched off down the corridor, leaving Yuuri floundering in his wake.

Aside from that incident however, nothing else remarkable happened as exams approached. Yuuri offered as much tutoring as he could fit into his timetable and fretted about his students every hour of the day. Phichit joked that he was probably more stressed than the students themselves and Viktor took to dragging Yuuri out for a break every day to walk Makkachin and attempting to kiss his worries away.

It was a relief when the exam season was finally over and the school began to wind down in preparation for summer. It seemed all too soon that the final day approached, the whole school sitting down together for the end of year feast in the Great Hall.

The hall was filled with chatter but it slowly trickled off into silence as Headmaster Cialdini stood up.

“It has certainly been quite a year,” Headmaster Cialdini said, addressing the rows of students sitting in front of him. “Firstly, congratulations to Slytherin for winning the Quidditch cup.”

There he paused, allowing applause to fill the hall. Yuuri looked over to the Slytherin table to see Mila beaming, thumping Yuri heartily on the back as the rest of their house whooped and cheered around him. Sitting next to him, Viktor gave his hand a congratulatory squeeze, flashing Yuuri a smile before Celestino spoke again.

“And congratulations to Ravenclaw,” he announced as the noise quietened down again. “For their victory in the House Cup, with a total of 472 points.”

The hall broke into applause again, the Ravenclaw table cheering loudest of all.

“It seems,” Headmaster Cialdini added with a twinkle in his eye. “That certain houses may have earned more points, had they been more focused on achieving success this year and less focused on the personal lives of their teachers.”

Phichit snorted out a laugh next to Yuuri, who resisted the urge to sink down into his chair in embarrassment. The Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables were eyeing each other from across the hall but the moment was broken when Headmaster Cialdini clapped his hands together, bringing the attention of the room back to himself again.

“But enough of that,” he added, a spark of amusement still dancing in his voice. “Let’s eat.”

 

* * *

 

 

The morning of the final day soon dawned and Yuuri found himself standing at the castle entrance, watching the stream of students leaving the castle grounds for good. He was due to depart a few hours later, bound for another summer helping his parents at the hot springs before returning to the magical world again.

All around him, students were saying their goodbyes, the air filled with promises to visit each other and write. A few meters away, Yuuri saw Yuri glance around furtively before pulling Otabek into a crushing hug. Yuuri smiled a little at the sight. Yuri’s exterior might be as prickly as a rosebush but Yuuri knew that there was much more to him than met the eye.

“It seems strange, to be leaving again,” came a voice from behind him and Yuuri whipped around to see Viktor standing there, silver hair dancing in the breeze.

“It does,” he agreed, trying to quell the rising feeling of sadness within him at the sight. They hadn’t spoken much about plans for the summer, too busy with finishing off the last of their responsibilities for the end of the year and preparing for the next September. But Yuuri knew that Viktor had his own home to go to, just like Yuuri had his. After a year of living in each other’s pockets, it would feel strange to be parted for any length of time now. 

“I’m excited though,” Viktor added, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he spoke. “I can’t wait to meet your parents.”

“Meet my…what?” Yuuri asked, startled.

“Your parents. And your sister obviously,” Viktor continued, oblivious to Yuuri’s confusion. “Now that we’re dating, I think it’s time I met your family, don’t you? Plus, your hot springs sound divine. We can leave today if you want, I’m already ready to go.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at that, before reaching out and twining Viktor’s fingers with his own.

“I’d like that,” he told Viktor, who beamed back at him.

At Viktor’s brilliant smile, Yuuri could hear several sighs of longing behind him but he paid them no heed. Viktor was beautiful and talented and everyone was a least a little bit in love with him.

Yuuri was more than a little bit in love with him. Yuuri was head over heels for him, he adored Viktor from head to toe and he wanted everyone to know it. What had started as a childhood crush had developed into attraction, then to friendship, to deep affection and then to much, much more. And Yuuri wouldn’t change a single part of it.

Yuuri was completely in love with Viktor Nikiforov. And it really wasn’t a problem anymore.

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on [tumblr](http://kazliin.tumblr.com/) for more fic writing and YOI


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